Empty Heart
by ZashleyrulesWildcat4life
Summary: When Emily left for London it meant the end for the relationship she had with JJ. Now two years later she's back and has to deal with a very unforgiving JJ.
1. Going and Coming

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**AN **Hey readers I'm back and with a new story, I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think, love forever and always.

Empty Hearts

"Are you going to take it?" JJ asked from the couch in her house, her eyes facing the ground and tears filling them.

"I want to" Emily answered and watched as JJ shook her head.

Emily had just finished telling JJ, her girlfriend for the last year, that she was offered a job to head up the Interpol office in London.

"Were you planning on discussing this with me?" Emily sat down on the coffee table and reached for JJ's hands, but JJ pulled her hands away; still keeping her eyes casted down.

"JJ, I'm discussing it now" Emily's voice was soft, but it did nothing to sooth JJ.

"What the fuck is the point now?" JJ whispered, anger lacing her voice as she lifted her head. "You're going, with or without me"

"But I don't want to be without you!" Emily reached for JJ's hands again, but once again JJ pulled her hands away. "Come with me"

"Come with you?" It was a rhetorical question. "Emily, I have a son, whose father is already far enough. It's hard enough on Will and Henry, I'm not going to pull them further apart" JJ stood up from the couch and walked in front of the coffee table, arms crossed. "Besides all of that, I have a job here-a life here, you can't ask me to drop all of that and leave…I can't leave the team, and I can't believe you actually want to"

"I don't feel like I'm a part of that team anymore!" Emily shot up and moved to stand in front of JJ. "I love those people, they're my family, and they're not the reason why-"JJ cut her off.

"So then why, why are you leaving us…me?" This time when Emily took her hands, she didn't stop her.

"Ever since I got back, there's been this space in my heart and nothing is filling it, I used to get a rush by doing this job" Emily took a breath before continuing. "Now, now nothing, I feel something when I think about going to London. I need to do this JJ, for me"

"Then go Emily, no one's stopping you" JJ dropped Emily's hands and began to walk towards her stairs.

"So that's it? One year together and it's over, you're ending us?" JJ turned back sharply pointing a finger at Emily.

"Don't put this on me!" JJ kept her distance afraid of what she would do if she was at arm's length. "I'm not the one leaving, I'm not the one choosing a job over her girlfriend" JJ took a deep breath to control herself. "Just leave Emily"

"I can't leave with us like this" Emily whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

"Nothing you can do is going to make this better, just leave because you being here is just making it worse" Emily stated to move closer to JJ, but JJ turned and began to walk up her stairs.

"What are you going to tell Henry?" Emily asked, the young boy had gotten attached to Emily when he was a baby but when the two started dating he began to look at the woman like a second mother.

"I'll figure it out" JJ said over her shoulder.

Emily watched her disappear; she turned to the fireplace in JJ's living room and began to make her way over to the mantle. She finally let the tears fall freely as she picked up the picture of herself, JJ, and Henry. She ran her finger tips over the picture before placing it back down and walked out of the house.

JJ heard the door close, she sat down on her bed and placed her head into her hands and broke down.

**-  
2 Years Later**

"Henry, let's go you're going to be late!" JJ yelled from her kitchen.

The four year old hurried down the stairs and ran to his mother, JJ smiled seeing him running so she opened her arms and lifted him when he was close enough.

"Let's go mama" JJ smiled when he planted a kiss on her cheek.

She picked up her bag from the stair railing and put it over her free shoulder and then grabbed Henry's. She got to her car and placed him in his car seat, putting the bag beside him. She got into her driver's seat and heard her phone beep for what seemed like the 20th time that morning. She picked up her phone and saw another text from Garcia, it was her fourth asking her when she was going to be at work. JJ couldn't help but feel the worry that crept up in her heart.

"Mama, let's go" She smiled at Henry through the rear view mirror.

"Sorry baby" She started the car and began to drive.

JJ dropped Henry off at kindergarten and then made her way to work, once she was on her floor Garcia was rushing to her. On her way to work JJ had received another 5 texts from her friend.

"I got your messages, all 50 of them" JJ said with a laugh as she lifted her phone.

"You need to come with me. Now" Garcia grabbed her hand and began to drag her back to her lair.

Once they were in Garcia's office, JJ dropped her bag and fixed her blazer.

"Garcia, what the hell is going on?" Garcia turned to face her, JJ put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow.

"I need you to know that I knew nothing about this before today, that if I knew I would have told you right away" Garcia rambled on, something on Garcia's many cameras caught JJ's eyes and when she looked over she felt the wind knocked out of her.

"What is she doing here?" JJ's voice was a whisper as she pointed to the camera, her eyes never leaving it.

"I don't know, I just saw her walk in and talk to the team, and a little before you got here she went to Hotch's office" Garcia turned and faced the camera as well.

"Is she getting her job back?" The shock wore off and she began to shake with anger.

"I don't know JJ" Garcia said with a small shrug.

JJ turned and began to walk out of the office, but Garcia grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"What are you going to do?" JJ shrugged.

"I don't know, but she doesn't get to walk in here and think everything is okay" JJ pulled her hand back.

"Are you going to tell her?" Garcia raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe" JJ ran a hand through her hair. "Then she'll finally fucking understand how much pain I was in when she left" JJ grabbed her bag and walked out of Garcia's office.

JJ walked into the bullpen and up to her desk, she placed her bag down and looked up at Hotch's office.

"Do you know?" JJ heard Morgan ask.

"Yeah Garcia told me" JJ sat down but never took her eyes away from the office.

"I' glad Emily's back, I really missed her" JJ knew that Reid was only being honest, that he meant no harm, but it pissed her off.

Finally Emily and Hotch both stepped out of his office, she caught sight of him handing her, her badge back. She accepted it with a smile before turning to face the bullpen, her eyes connecting with JJ's. JJ thought she could handle it, handle looking into her eyes…But she couldn't, JJ turned and got out of there as fast as possible.

"JJ!" JJ heard Emily call her; she was just steps away from Garcia's office. After a moment she turned and faced Emily.

"Are you back?" JJ tried to keep her face emotionless, but she wasn't sure if she was succeeding.

"Yes" She started to walk closer to JJ, but JJ took a step back and that stopped Emily. "I never should have left like that"

"And…" Emily was taken aback by that, she wasn't used to JJ being so cold.

"I tried calling, but you never picked up" Emily was talking about all the ties she had called when she moved to London.

"It was too hard" Emily nodded in understanding.

"Did Henry get my cards?" JJ nodded.

"Yes, he loves you Em and I would never turn him against you…He missed you at his birthday parties" A small smile graced Emily's lips at that.

"I missed being there" JJ nodded and looked away from Emily, it was getting to hard to look her in the eye. "I know I don't have the right to ask, but I missed you and I was wondering if maybe we could go to dinner"

"No" Her answer was quick and sharp.

"It's just dinner Jay" JJ shook her head with a laugh.

"It's never just dinner Emily" JJ took a breath before continuing. "Nothing is ever going to happen with us again"

"JJ, I know I fucked up but…" Emily didn't hide the hurt and pain in her voice.

"I'm engaged Emily!" JJ raised her hand, showing the ring that was on her finger. "I'm engaged and I'm happy"


	2. Bitterness comes with happiness

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**AN **Hey readers I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always.

Engaged, the word ran through Emily's head over and over again as she sat at her desk. JJ had just told her she was engaged and went into Garcia's office, Emily knew better than to follow her.

_I've lost her forever, what the hell was I thinking when I left her?_

"Conference room" Hotch called to the team. "Reid, can you please get JJ and Garcia?" The young profiler nodded and headed off.

Morgan, Emily, and Rossi followed Hotch into the conference room, they took a seat as JJ, Garcia, and Reid walked in. JJ chose to stand by the door, not wanting to be any closer to Emily than she had to be.

"As you guys know, Blake resigned a month ago" Hotch began. "We needed another profiler so I called Prentiss"

"And I wanted to come back more than anything" Emily said with a laugh, Morgan laughed as well and clapped a hand on her shoulder.

"Why?" All eyes turned to JJ, silence took over the room.

"JJ" Hotch warned, though JJ chose to ignore.

"I mean you were so quick to leave, why did you want to come back?" JJ raised an eyebrow.

"I missed you guys" Emily turned her eyes away from JJ and looked around the table. "I missed this job, you guys mean everything to me-"JJ cut her off.

"Took you two years to realize how much we mean to you?" Once again, silence.

"JJ, my office now" JJ tore her eyes away from Emily and walked out of the conference room, heading to Hotch's office; Hotch right behind her.

"She's hurt Emily" Emily looked at Garcia and nodded.

"Just give her some time to heal, she'll get over it" Morgan added.

"I don't expect her to get over it" Emily said with a shrug. "I wouldn't"

-  
Hotch followed JJ into his office and closed the door, JJ turned to face him.

"Want to explain what that was?" Hotch asked.

"She left the team without even blinking and now she can just walk back in here like what she did wasn't wrong?" JJ's voice was a harsh whisper, trying her best not to yell.

"Is this about her leaving the team or leaving you?" JJ looked away from Hotch, knowing he would know the answer if he looked into her eyes. "Because it seems to me that the entire team is fine with her being back, except for you" JJ remained silent. "JJ?" She finally looked at Hotch.

"I can't forgive her for what she did" Hotch crossed his arms and nodded. "I haven't seen her for two years, I never thought she was coming back and I'm just shocked. She just left Hotch, one day we hand and amazing thing and then next day it was gone, and she comes back here thinking that everything can go back to the way it was? I am not okay with that"

"You once told me that if anything happened between you and Emily, that you would find a way to work with her" JJ nodded.

"I know and I will, I will" JJ took a breath before continuing. "Her being here just caught me off guard"

"I need Emily on this team, she is one of the best profilers I know" JJ nodded. "I need you on this team too" She threw him a small smile.

"I'm sorry Hotch" He nodded with a small smile. "I need some help with this" He frowned slightly.

"What do you mean?" JJ cleared her throat before answering.

"I need a couple of weeks to get used to her being back, so maybe for the first couple of weeks you don't pair me up with her?" Hotch took a breath and JJ could tell he was thinking it over.

"Only for a couple of weeks JJ" JJ nodded with small smile and began to walk past him, but he stopped her from leaving. "But only for a couple of weeks, because this is a team JJ and I need you two to be able to work together"

"I understand sir" He nodded and JJ left the office.

-  
Later that evening everyone was getting ready to go home, JJ had spent most of her time in Garcia's office. JJ would only come to her desk to grab some paper work and head back to Garcia's, Emily tried her best to connect her eyes to JJ's but would only end up gazing at the engagement ring.

The team worked on cases, while Emily spent most of her day singing papers the solidified her return. Emily stood up and began to put her blazer on; she looked in front of her when JJ came into her view. She watched as JJ began to pack her bag, Emily opened her mouth to say something when she heard a voice that made her smile bigger than she had in the last two years.

"Uncle Spencer!" Emily turned and saw Henry running towards Reid.

"Henry!" Reid bent down and opened his arms, Henry jumped into them and Reid hugged him tightly.

"Hey little man" JJ said from her desk.

"Hi mama" Henry ran to her and she scoped him up, JJ gave him a quick kiss before smoothing down his hair.

"Did you get here all by yourself?" Henry shook his head with a frown.

"No, Claire brought me" Henry said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"She did?" JJ played along.

"I did" Emily turned her head towards the new voice, she a woman about JJ's age with medium length black hair and bright blue eyes, Emily found herself thinking that JJ's were brighter, she was about as tall as Emily and it was clear that she kept in shape.

"Hi babe" JJ said as she walked over to her fiancé.

"Hi" Claire placed a soft kiss on JJ's cheek.

"Aunt Em?" JJ looked at her son and saw him cranking his neck over her shoulder to look at Emily.

"Yeah baby, that's Emily" Henry began to struggle in JJ's arms and she put him down.

As soon as his little feet hit the floor he ran as fast as he could to Emily, Emily bent down and hugged him as tight as she could. Having him in her arms made her heat burst with joy, she never wanted to let go.

"Hi Henry" Emily whispered into his ear, she tried her best not to let the tears in her eyes fall.

"Are you back?" Henry asked her once he pulled back, but kept his arms around her.

"Yeah honey, I'm back" She gave him a smile, but he didn't return it and it broke Emily's already torn heart.

"You missed my birthday" He frowned, and Emily couldn't help thinking that it made him look even more like JJ.

"I know I did and I am so sorry" Still no smile. "But, hey, now that I'm back I'm never going to miss another one"

"Do you promise?" Emily nodded and ran a hand over his hair.

"Yeah sweetheart, I promise" Finally a smile broke out on his face and he hugged Emily again.

Emily stood up and held out her hand for him to take, he took it and she began walking him back to JJ and Claire. Once he was close enough JJ took his freehand and Emily discreetly let go.

"Emily, this is Claire Hastings, my fiancée" The words cut into Emily's soul. "Claire, this is Emily Prentiss" Emily saw the realization creep onto Claire's face.

"It's nice to meet you Emily" Claire stuck her hand out with a smile.

"Same to you" Emily shook Claire's hand, a small smile of her own.

"Alright guys" Morgan put his bag over his shoulder and made his way over to them. "I've gotta take off, I've got a date" Morgan stuck his arm out towards Henry. "My main man" Henry held onto Morgan's forearm with all his might, Morgan moved back to get some more space. Suddenly he lifted his arm and Henry as high as he could, Henry laughed hard and Emily found herself doing it too. Morgan put him down with a smile. "See yea" Morgan ruffled Henry's hair.

"Morgan, I'll walk out with you" Emily told him before he could leave. "Can I get a hug Henry?" Henry was quick to hug her waist and Emily smiled as she hugged him back.

JJ and Claire watched Emily and Morgan leave, before the couple shared a look.

"PG, you're still doing dinner with us right?" JJ asked her best friend.

"Yeah of course" Garcia answered with a smile.

"Awesome" JJ turned her attention to Reid. "Spence, you want to join us?"

"Yeah sure" He said with a shrug.

"Alright, give me 5 minutes guys" Garcia said before rushing off to her office.

-  
JJ and Claire walked into their house, Claire carrying a sleeping Henry, JJ closed the door and they made their way upstairs. JJ stopped at their bedroom and smiled at her son and fiancée, JJ leaned over and kissed him on his head.

"I'll tuck him in and then I'll be back" Claire whispered, JJ nodded before heading in to the bedroom.

JJ took off her blazer and tossed it on the armchair that was on the far side of the room; she sat down on the bed and ran her hands through her hair. What a day it had been, Emily was back and it was toying with JJ's heart. The pain that was left in her heart the day Emily left came back in full force, a lump formed in JJ's throat when she thought about that day. She buried her face in her hands, she remembered being in this exact position when she heard Emily walk out the door and out of her life.

"Hey" JJ looked up and smiled at Claire.

"Hey" JJ tried to keep the tears out of her voice, to hide the lump in her throat.

"How come you never told me that she was back?" Claire asked as she walked over to JJ, taking her hands into her own.

"I never knew until today" JJ ran her thumbs over Claire's knuckles, her eyes locked on their hands.

"Really?" JJ nodded. "When you walked into work you found out?"

"Garcia told me" Claire nodded, even though JJ couldn't see it.

"How are holding up?" Claire squeezed JJ's hands as she asked the question.

JJ finally looked up and connected her eyes with Claire's, she gave Claire a tight smile before she started to shake her head and her smile fell. Tears began to pour out of JJ's eyes and a sob broke out for her chest, Claire dropped to her knees and hugged JJ. JJ wrapped her arms around Claire and broke down.

"It hurt so much to see her" Claire flinched at the pain in JJ's voice. "It was like the scar that she left behind was ripped open when I saw her, the pain came rushing back" Claire held her tighter. "Why does it hurt so much, why does it _still _hurt so much?"

"I don't know baby, I don't know" JJ's body shook with sobs and all Claire could do was hold her and love her.

-  
Emily sat on her couch, glass of whiskey in her hand, and eyes focused on a picture on her mantle that was taken three years ago. Emily leaned forward and placed her drink down on the coffee table and picked up her pack of cigarettes, it has been years since she smoked, she lit up and leaned back on her couch. She didn't bother to stop the fresh set of tears roll down her face.

After finishing two more drinks and three more cigarettes, Emily stood up and made her way over to the picture, slightly unsteady. She picked it up and ran her fingers over it; it was a picture of JJ, Henry, and Emily on Henry's first birthday. Emily took this picture everywhere with her, but after finding out about JJ and Claire, it felt wrong to have it.

Emily took the picture and sat down on her couch; she undid the back and pulled the picture out. Emily stared at it for a moment more before standing up and walking to her book case, she pulled out a book and placed the picture in the middle of the book. Emily placed it back on the shelf and let her fingers linger on the spine of the book, the book that held the picture of her heart.


	3. Save your speeches and apologies

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**AN **Hey readers I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always.

JJ groaned when she heard her phone ringing, effectively waking her up from her sleep. She reached over to her nightstand with a blind hand, choosing to keep her eyes closed.

"Jareau" She said, finally opening her eyes. "Alright Hotch, I'll be soon" JJ hung up and began to move the arm that was around her waist, he smiled when she heard the other person groan.

JJ turned her body and smiled at Claire, Claire stretched before opening her eyes and returning the smile.

"Case?" JJ nodded. "I'll make the coffee" Claire began to sit up but JJ pushed her back down.

"Baby, go back to sleep it's like…"JJ trialed off as she looked at the clock beside Claire. "4:00am"

"It's fine, I'm not going to go back to sleep without you beside me anyway" JJ rolled her eyes with a smile before getting up from the bed along with Claire.

"Thank you" JJ kissed Claire and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

-  
Claire finished pouring JJ's coffee and began to pour her own, when she heard JJ walk into the kitchen.

"Here you go" Claire handed JJ her on-the-go mug.

"Thank you" JJ took it with a smile; she looked around the kitchen to make sure she had everything she needed. "Alright so, Will is going to pick up Henry from kindergarten and his teacher knows that. So-"Claire cut her off.

"Make sure that his go bag is in the school and that his teacher has his passport, AND I know that his bag is in his closet and his passport is in our dresser" Claire pulled JJ closer with a small laugh. "JJ, I've done this before"

"I know, I know" JJ shook her head. "And I know you're amazing with him, it's just…"JJ trailed off not knowing how to describe what she was thinking.

"He's your son Jay, I get it" JJ gave her a small smile.

"Thank you" JJ pulled away from Claire for a second, she placed her coffee down and then her bag.

Turning back to Claire she placed her arms around her fiancée's neck; she leaned in and kissed her. The kiss started of slow and sweet, but Claire wanted just a little bit more not knowing how long it was going to be before she kisses JJ again. Claire tilted her head and brushed JJ's lips with her tongue; JJ parted her lips and moaned when they connected. Finally JJ pulled back and connected their foreheads, all with a smile.

"I need to go, before _that_ becomes more than a kiss" JJ said with a laugh, causing Claire to laugh.

"Alright fine" Claire let go of JJ and stepped back.

JJ picked up her bag and coffee, and began to head for the door.

"I'll call you whenever I reach wherever I'm going" JJ opened her door and turned back to Claire with a smile.

"Hold on, this is your first case back with Prentiss" JJ's smile dropped slightly. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, Hotch is doing me a solid, he's not going to pair us together for a couple of weeks" Claire nodded.

"Alright, well if you ever need to call…"Claire said with a small shrug.

"I know, I love you baby" JJ stepped up to her and kissed Claire chastely.

"I love you too" Claire said once she pulled back.

JJ gave her a wink before heading to her car.

-  
"Charleston North Carolina needs us, 5 women, all found in garbage dumps" Garcia pulled up pictures of the 5 woman.

"Jesus" JJ whispered at the pictures. "He tortured them"

"Yes he did" Hotch began. "Multiple broken bones, multiple stab wounds and lacerations, multiple burns including electrical, and cause of death was drowning"

"Drowning?" Morgan asked.

"Yes" Garcia cut in. "The coroner found water in their lungs"

"We'll talk about this more on the plane, wheels up in 10" Hotch got up and left the room, followed by everyone except JJ.

JJ watched as Garcia turned off the TV without looking at it, JJ had gotten really used to the things she saw in every file that was sent to her, but she knew Garcia wasn't.

"Pen?" Garcia looked up and JJ stepped closer. "Are you okay?"

"Sometimes I wonder why we do this job, I mean we put one monster away and a bigger one takes its place" JJ put a comforting hand on Garcia's shoulder. "Then I think that if putting away some of these monsters and it saves some innocent lives…Then it makes our job kind of worth it"

"Don't ever leave us Garcia" JJ said with a smile. "We can't do this job with you" Garcia let out a loud laugh.

JJ turned and began to head out of the conference room, but Garcia's voice stopped her.

"How are you holding up with…?" Garcia nudged her head to the bullpen and in Emily's direction, JJ followed her line of site.

"Ask me after this case" JJ gave her a small smirk and walked out of the conference room.

-  
"He has a specific type" Reid said as he looked over the women. "All brunettes with green eyes"

"Based on how they're dressed, all these woman were prostitutes" The team nodded in agreement with Rossi.

"That would explain when there is no missing persons report" Morgan pointed out.

"Prostitutes are easy targets" Hotch walked out of the coffee area of the jet, coffee's in his hand. He sat down and placed one in front of JJ.

"But he's not going after just any prostitute, he's going after the ones that match his type" Reid shifted in his seat to get more comfortable.

"That takes a lot of dedication" Emily said, putting the picture of a victim down she looked at the team. "The Unsub would have to spend hours scouting out all those women till he found his perfect type"

"What does that mean?" Garcia's voice rang out from the laptop.

"It means that he has personal connections with his victims" Morgan answered.

"When we land, JJ and Reid go to the latest victims dump site, Morgan and Prentiss go to the streets they worked and find out if anyone saw anything, Rossi and I will work on the profile" The team nodded.

-  
Once they landed, JJ, Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss got into one SUV and Hotch was with Rossi in another. Once JJ was in the SUV she pulled out her cell phone.

"Hey Claire" A smile made its way on to JJ's face. "I'm in North Carolina…Yeah it's a bad one…Yeah well I miss him too…Yeah, listen can you let me know when Will picks him up?" JJ ran a hand through her hair as she listened to the answer. "Thanks babe, I love you" JJ hung up with a smile.

"How's Claire?" Morgan asked.

"She's good, she was just saying that it always breaks her heart when she has to tell Henry that I'm away for a case" JJ made a small pout and Morgan chuckled.

"JJ, next time you talk to her can you let her know that I found that book she was looking for?" JJ turned to look at Reid and nodded with a smile.

"Of course, she's going to be over the moon when she finds out" JJ said with a laugh.

"I don't know how she was teaching her history class without it" JJ nodded in agreement.

"She's a teacher?' Emily asked JJ, but JJ chose not to answer, but that flew over Reid's head so he answered instead.

"Yeah, 12th grade history" Emily nodded but kept her eyes on JJ.

-  
It had been a three days and the team had yet to catch a break, two more victims had shown up and they were getting very, very frustrated.

JJ was in the break room, getting herself a coffee and finishing up a phone call with Claire, when Emily walked in.

"Thanks babe, I just needed to hear a comforting voice…Love you too" JJ glanced at Emily as she hung up.

"Talking to Claire?" Emily asked as she stepped beside JJ, pouring herself a coffee. JJ once again chose not to answer. "She seems really great" JJ continued to ignore her and it erupted something in Emily. "Damn it JJ, just talk to me" Emily's voice was a harsh whisper.

"Talk to you?" JJ's voice held disbelief. "Like you talked to me about going to London?" JJ didn't give Emily a chance to answer, she walked around her and was about to leave the break room.

"I did talk to you" Emily defended herself.

"Talking to me after you made your decision isn't talking to me, it's just telling me why won't be there when I wake up" JJ did nothing to hide the heartbreak in her voice, turning her back to Emily.

"I'm sorry JJ" Emily could see JJ stiffen slightly.

"Sorry doesn't take away the two years of heartbreak" With that JJ walked out of the break room, not giving Emily a chance to say anything.

JJ took a seat at the round table and saw Emily make her way over as well.

"Let's go over the profile again" Hotch said once the team was together again.

"He's extremely angry" Rossi started. "And he's directing this hate at someone"

"Someone that he has an emotional connection with" JJ added.

"Someone who has obviously mistreated him at some point in his life, he dumped their bodies in the garbage so he obviously thinks they're trash" Morgan said as he paced.

"Like an absent mother" Everyone turned their eyes to Emily. "It fits right, all the hate and anger in his kills could be directed at his mother"

"It would explain why he's so angry and why his type of victim is so specific" Hotch began to put the pieces together. "A mother who abused her son and at night brought home a different man, that in itself is emotional abuse"

"This guy was screwed up long before he started killing" Reid said.

Hotch reached over to the phone in the middle of the table and called Garcia.

"Welcome to the world of the all-knowing, what information may I give you?"

"Garcia, I need you to look up child abuse cases and go back about thirty years" Hotch began.

"Alright got it" The tam could hear her typing.

"Now narrow that list down to just mothers" Hotch continued. "Now to mothers that were arrested for prostitution"

"That leaves us with two, both single mother and a son"

"We're looking for a mother with brown hair and green eyes" Hotch said.

"That is…Elizabeth Moore, her son, Jon, was taken out of her custody when he was 15 and after she was arrested. They found…oh God…They found her dunking his head in a bathtub over and over again.

"That's why he drowned them, if the cops didn't come in that's how he would have died" JJ put in.

"Once they took him to the hospital they found out that boy had been very badly beaten his whole life. He was put into an orphanage and when a family took him in they said that he was very troubled" Garcia continued.

"Troubled how?" Reid asked.

"He tried to attack Mrs. Evens, the woman who took him in, multiple times…She had brown hair and green eyes" Garcia took a shuddery breath before continuing. "He was put in a troubled boys home, but he was a loud to leave when he was 18, that was 4 years ago Hotch"

"Garcia, we need a current address now" Hotch spoke quickly.

"Sending it to your phones boss man" Hotch hung up with Garcia before pulling out his.

"Let's go" The team quickly began suiting up.

-  
The team was on the plane on their way back home, when they caught Jon he admitted to what he did but showed no ounce of remorse for his actions. The team was exhausted from this case; Morgan, Reid, Rossi, and JJ were asleep, leaving Hotch and Emily as the only two awake.

Emily couldn't take her eyes away from JJ's sleeping form.

"Staring at her isn't going to solve your problems" Emily looked beside her and smiled at Hotch, who kept his eyes on his paperwork.

"Well at least this way she doesn't yell at me" Hotch let out a small laugh.

"Have you tried talking to her?" Hotch asked, finally looking up.

"Yeah, but she doesn't even give me a chance to tell her how sorry I am" Emily turned her eyes back to JJ.

"She needs time" Emily was beginning to get tired of hearing that, that's all she ever heard from people these days. "Next time you talk to her, make sure you get your point across. She's listening, she may not acknowledge you, but's she's listening"

-  
After her paperwork was done for the night, JJ was headed to car to head home and snuggle up in her fiancée's arms and just relax.

"JJ, wait a sec" Of course it wouldn't be that easy, JJ turned to face Emily.

"You know what Emily, it's really late and I just want to go home" Emily nodded.

"I know, but just hold on" Emily looked to the ground and took a breath, before facing JJ again. "I am so fucking sorry I know what I did was wrong, it was wrong and stupid and hurtful; and you're right; it can't take away the heartbreak-"JJ cut her off.

"Or the pain, or the tears do you realize how heartbreaking it was to watch Henry cry over how much he missed you?" JJ saw that Emily was going to say something, but she quickly continued. "I need you to understand something, we are teammates, we are co-works but that's it. That is as far as this relationship will ever go; I'm not going to be your friend and to be honest with you I don't want to be. I don't want to get close to you, because if I do I'll let my heart fall in love with you…And if that happens it-I won't be able to survive another heartbreak" JJ moved to her car door and opened it, she looked Emily up and down before saying her parting words. "So save your speech"


	4. Blow to the heart

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**AN **Hey readers, I am so sorry for the wait really I am and I hope this chapter was worth it. I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always.

"Mama!" Henry yelled when he saw JJ standing at the front door, he jumped out of his father's arms and ran at her.

"Hi baby" JJ lifted him up and placed a soft kiss on his head. "Did you have fun with daddy?"

"Yeah, it was the best weekend ever" J laughed.

"Why don't you go inside and say hi to Claire?" He nodded as she put him down, he quickly ran into the house.

"Hey" Will said with a smile as he walked up to JJ.

"Best weekend ever?" JJ raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "You're making it hard for me to compete with you"

"I'm more fun JJ, what can I say" Will laughed, he handed JJ Henry bag and passport. "Claire told me Emily's back in town"

"Yeah she is" Will nodded, trying to gauge JJ's emotions.

"How are you handling it?" JJ gave him a small shrug.

"Day by day you know, it's hard but…"JJ shrugged again, not knowing how to continue, placing Henry's bag down and his passport in her back pocket.

"If you ever need to talk" Will looked off in thought for a second. "Despite what you may have heard, cell phones can be very good for your health" JJ laughed, remembering when she said those same words to Will.

"Sounds familiar" Will laughed. "So, are you going back tonight?"

"Uh, tomorrow actually" JJ threw him a confused look. "I have a job interview with the DC police department"

"What?" JJ asked in shock.

"Yeah, I want to move here JJ, I want to be closer to Henry. I'm tired of only getting to spend a weekend with him" JJ gave him a smile.

"I'm happy you're doing this Will, you're a shoe in for that job" JJ stepped forward and hugged Will. "It'll be great having you closer"

"Hey, hey, hey what's this I see?" JJ laughed, hearing Claire's voice. "Is there something I should know about?" JJ pulled away from Will, but kept her arms around him.

"Shit Will, she found out" JJ joked.

"I told you we wouldn't be able to hide it for long" Will said, playing along.

"Like she would ever leave me for you crawfish man" Claire said with a laugh, Will joined her as he let go of JJ.

"Come here" Will pulled Claire into a hug.

Claire and Will got along great and it made JJ more than happy, JJ and Will kept a good relationship since JJ told him that things couldn't work out. When JJ and Emily were together it was a little harder to be around Will, because no matter how hard Emily tried she just couldn't get herself to like Will.

"Alright, I should get going" Will said after looking at his watch. "My interview is in an hour and it's little bit of a drive. Henry!" The little boy came running from the house and jumped into his father's arms. "I gotta go bud, see you later" Will kissed his head before putting him down.

"Good luck Will" JJ said before giving him one more hug.

-  
Emily walked into her apartment after going for a run; she turned her iPod off and placed it on the kitchen counter before heading to her bedroom. She opened her dresser and was about to pull out a set of clothes to change into after her shower; however she stopped when her eyes caught site of something. Emily picked up the many letters that she had written to JJ, the many letters that were sent back to her simply marked 'Return to sender'.

Emily stormed into the kitchen, letters and a lighter in hand; she walked up to her sink and dropped all the letters in except for one. She took the lighter and held it to the letter; she lit it and watched as the letter caught on fire. She tossed the letter into the sink and the rest caught on fire as well, Emily let a few tears fall. This was Emily letting go of the woman she was never going to get back.

It was much later that night when Emily was woken up by a phone call from Hotch, they had a new case and it was a bad one. Emily found herself asking when it was ever a good one. She quickly got ready and headed to the BAU.

-  
Emily walked in and saw that Hotch was in his office, but the light was on in the BAU room. Emily made her way over and walked in, she briefly debated with herself weather she should turn and walk away when she saw JJ sitting in the room. JJ looked up and their eyes connected but only for a second, it was too late for Emily to turn back now, so she took a seat furthest away from JJ.

The ladies were silent, both were trying to act busy with their phones but that was only going to go so far. So Emily decided to break the silence.

"How are you?" Emily was the first to break the silence.

"Let's not make this anymore awkward than it has to be Emily" JJ said with slight annoyance in her voice, Emily scoffed and shook her head.

"I don't know why I'm still trying" Emily muttered, but in the silence of the room JJ heard it.

"Yeah, me neither" Once again their eyes locked and once again JJ broke it, before anything else could be said Garcia and Morgan walked in.

Soon the whole team was there and Hotch and Garcia began to talk about the case.

"Alright, Sacramento Cali needs us" Garcia brought up images. "6 victims overall, 3 pairs"

"All woman, were they couples?" JJ asked.

"No, just friends that were in the wrong place at the wrong time" Garcia said as she flipped to the next picture. "The first two victims were Lisa Scott, 17, and Melissa Summers, 18; they were hit with a shovel before being beaten to death with it. The next two, Peyton Holden, 15, and Claudia La Blanc, 15" Garcia took a breath before continuing. "We also found in a ditch, Peyton was hit with a shovel and died of blunt force trauma, and Claudia was beaten to death with the shovel" The team shook their heads at the thought of these young girls suffering. "And lastly Audrey Fisher, 17, and Meagan Schechter, 16 were also killed by blunt force and once again with a shovel"

"The Unsub left the shovel?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, at each crime scene" Garcia answered.

"No fingerprints I assume?" Rossi looked up from the case with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not" Garcia cleared her throat; everyone knew she was uncomfortable saying the next thing. "All the women were sexually assaulted, the coroner found semen as well as vaginal fluid, not from the victims"

"We're dealing with a team?" Emily asked, slightly disgusted.

"A team of sexual sadists" JJ added in.

"Wheels up in ten" Hotch stood up and walked out.

-  
"There's ligature marks on their wrists and ankles, the Unsub's bound them before raping them" JJ said as she took a seat beside Reid.

"Why leave the murder weapon?" Rossi asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

"To show that he's smarter than the police force, he saying that I'm leaving you everything you need to find me but you still can't" Reid started. "This is almost a throwback to the Gallego's"

"The couple that went on a murder spree in the 70's?" Rossi asked.

"Yes and almost into the 80's before they were caught" Reid shifted and continued. "Charlene Gallego would entice the victims to follow her into a van where Gerald Gallego would be waiting with a gun; he would tie them up before raping them in the back of the van and on the rare occasion in their house. When he was done with them Charlene would also rape them, and then Gerald would take them one by one and kill them"

"So you think we're dealing with a couple?" Emily asked.

"I think so" Reid answered with a shrug.

"But these victims weren't killed the same way that the Gallego victims were" Morgan pointed out.

"I'm not saying its copycat killer, but I am saying that we're dealing with a very similar couple" Morgan nodded at Reid.

"Alright, Prentiss and JJ I want you two to go to the coroner's office when we land" JJ threw a sharp look at Hotch and caught Emily doing the same thing. "Morgan, you're with me and we're going to visit the dumpsites. Reid and Rossi, pay a visit to the families"

-  
JJ and Emily were on their way to the coroner, the tension in the car was almost too much for either of them to handle. JJ kept her eyes on the road and Emily kept hers looking out the passenger side window. There was a question in Emily's mind and she wanted to bring it up to JJ she just didn't know how, after thinking it over a little bit more she decided to just say it.

"How long did you wait before getting together with Claire?" JJ glanced at Emily before turning back to the road.

"6 months" She answered honestly.

"6 months?" There was hurt and betrayal in her voice. "We dated for two years and you only waited 6 months?"

"Two years didn't seem to mean shit all to you when you left" JJ's knuckles began to turn white as she tightened her hold on the steering wheel.

"How did you meet her?" Emily asked, as she turned her eyes back to the passenger window.

"Garcia introduced us" Emily fought the urge to roll her eyes. "She's an old friend of PG's" JJ looked at Emily and suddenly felt the need to explain her actions. "It was only supposed to be one date, because to be honest I didn't know if I was ready for more, but she was just so damn amazing" JJ laughed, forgetting for just a second who she was talking to. "Before I knew it we were living together and then we were engaged"

"As long as you're happy" Emily's voice held something that JJ couldn't put her finger on.

"I am" JJ smiled.

"Then great" The tension was back.

"I used to be so pissed that you left" Emily turned to JJ with a frown.

"Used to be?" JJ chooses to ignore Emily.

"Then I realized that it was probably for the best" JJ turned the SUV into the morgue parking lot. "You lied about Doyle, who knows how many other secrets you would have" JJ parked and looked at Emily. "Secrets that could have hurt my family"

"That's low" Emily hissed. "_Fucking _low" Emily opened the door and got out of the car.

-  
About two hours later the team was meeting up again, Hotch and Morgan walked into the conference room and took a seat at the round table.

"JJ, Prentiss, what did you find out at the coroner's?" Hotch asked as soon as he sat down.

"Nothing much" Prentiss answered. "He told us pretty much what we already knew, um the rape was pre-mortem, but the one interesting thing we did find out was that all the victims were killed with a blow to the head and were then beaten post-mortem"

"Yeah" JJ began to chime in. "Which just screams rage and over kill"

"What about the families?" Hotch turned to Reid.

"Nothing on the first two sets of victims, but the last two were with a group of friends when they were abducted" Rossi started, but turned to Reid for the finish.

"We read over the police report and it said that the friends didn't remember anything, probably from the shock of finding out what happened to their friends. We got them to come here so we could interview them ourselves" Reid pointed over his shoulder at the small group of friends sitting just outside the room.

"That's good Reid, Morgan and I didn't find much at the crime scenes" Hotch looked at the friends in thought before turning back to the team. "Morgan and JJ talk to the friends and if you feel the need to, do a cognitive interview" The two nodded. "The rest are going to work on the profile"

JJ and Morgan got up, taking a paper form Reid, and headed to the teens, there was only four of them.

"Hi I'm Agent Jareau and this is Agent Morgan" JJ spoke softly as the two agents took a seat in front of the teens.

"Why are we here" Jacob Peters asked. "We already talked to the police"

"We know" Morgan said with a nod. "We just want to go over your statements again"

"Leo" JJ read off the paper.

"Yes" She looked at the teen with a small smile, though it was not returned.

"You said to the police that you saw Audrey and Megan getting into a van?" JJ asked and Leo nodded.

"Yeah, we all saw them getting into a van" Leo shifted to get comfortable before continuing. "I walked closer to the van, you know, to make sure they weren't being forced to go in"

"Did you see who they were with?" Morgan asked.

"Just some woman, I didn't know anything was wrong. They smiled at me before they go in" Leo shook his head, feeling ashamed and wishing he knew something was wrong.

"You told the police that you couldn't clearly see the woman?" JJ asked and Leo nodded.

"I was trying to get a good look at her when she was in the driver's side, but she took off too fast" Leo answered with a shrug.

"Did you get a look at the licence plate?" Morgan asked.

"No…I don't think so, I can't remember" JJ threw a look a Morgan and he nodded.

"Alright, why don't you guys come with me and Leo I want you to stay with Agent Morgan" JJ stood up and held the door open for the rest of the group.

"Leo, we're going to try a cognitive interview" Morgan gave him a smile and shifted closer to him. "I need you to close your eyes and clear your mind" Leo gave him a skeptical look. "Trust me"

JJ made sure the group of friends were comfortable before heading to the conference room, she walked in and all eyes turned to her.

"Those guys don't really have much to go on, but Morgan is giving Leo Bolton a cognitive interview. He's the only one that really saw the female Unsub and possibly the licence plate" Hotch gave JJ a nod.

"Was the female Unsub driving?" Reid asked and JJ nodded. "That probably means that our male Unsub was waiting in the back with something to subdue our victims"

"Kind of like the Gallego's" Emily pointed out. "If this is really like that case, then the female Unsub is subdominant and the male is dominant, she's is probably being controlled by him"

"She probably finds it exciting to be with a man like that" Rossi said as he wrote it down on the white board.

"He gets off on the control and she gets off on being controlled" JJ broke it down.

"We're looking for Unsub's that have a record in violence and assaults" Hotch moved to the phone and called Garcia.

_"Thank you for calling, you are speaking to the Queen of Knowledge how may I help you?"_

"Garcia, I need you to look up males and females with history of assaults and violence, go back about a year before the first murder happened" Hotch said as he leaned over the table.

_"Alright…Um that's a hell of a long list sir"_

"Narrow it down to cases that happened in a van"

_"Alright, still really long"_

"Encounters with a male and a female at the same time?"

_"Yeah okay, that narrowed it down but still lengthy"_

"Thank you Garcia, we'll try to narrow it down some more" Hotch hung up.

The team looked up as Morgan walked in.

"The female Unsub is white, with brown hair and she had a broken nose, that's all he remembers about her. The license plate is a partial, 3LS"Morgan took a seat beside Reid.

"Broken nose, a victim fought back?" Rossi suggested.

"Or the male Unsub hit her" Hotch shrugged. "She steps out of line and he hits her to gain back control"

"Gerald Gallego was raised in a house that was filled with abuse, from his mother and her boyfriends; it could be the same for our male Unsub. It explains why there is so much aggression in his kills" Reid pointed out.

Hotch quickly called Garcia back. "Garcia, narrow the list down to white, brunette women"

_"Alright, done"_

"Have any of them recently, within the last three days, gone to the hospital for a broken nose?"

_"No"_

"Self-fixed maybe?" JJ suggested.

"Probably, they wouldn't want to risk the chance of getting caught" Reid answered with a nod.

"Garcia, how many people do you have left on that list?" Hotch asked.

_"4 couples"_

"Alright, we'll split up and head to their houses" Hotch said to the team. "Garcia, send us their addresses"

_"You got it boss man"_

"Thank you" Hotch hung u and their phones beeped.

"These are all on the outskirts of Sacramento" Reid said as he looked over the addresses.

"We'll split up in teams of two and take back up-"JJ cut him off before he could go further.

"Hotch, I don't know if we can drive out that far tonight" Hotch turned to her and she opened the blinds in the room, showing Hotch that there is a major storm outside.

"Alright, go to the hotel I guess" Hotch said with a sigh. "First thing tomorrow morning, we'll head to the houses"

-  
The next day the team headed to the houses, Emily and JJ at one, Morgan and Reid another, Hotch at the third, and Rossi at the last. Each with back up from the police department. JJ and Emily were on their way back to the precinct once they found nothing at their house; the couple they interviewed didn't fit the profile.

At Hotch's house, he couldn't put his finger on it but something was wrong. He walked into the basement and the smell hit him, on the floor of the basement was a dead body of a male. He had been dead for maybe 3 days. Hotch was quick to call Rossi.

"They killed a man" Hotch said as soon as Rossi picked up. "That is way off profile"

_"Maybe the victim got in the way" _

"That has to be the only reason, I'll call you back" Hotch hung up and called Garcia. "Garcia, I'm at the Perry residence and they're our Unsub's. I need you to look up the vehicle that is registered to them"

_"Alright, got it" _

"Is 3LS in the license plate?"

_"Yes it is and it's registered to Jim and Ally Perry, go you"_

"Track the van for me Garcia" Hotch waited as Garcia typed.

_"Got it Hotch" _

"Are any of us close to it?"

_"Yeah, JJ and Emily" _

"Call them and tell them to follow the Unsub's" Hotch began to head out of the house. "Make sure they wait for backup before confronting them"

_"You got it, PG out" _

-  
"Yeah we got it Pen, thanks" JJ hung up her phone and turned to Emily. "They parked" Emily looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Garcia sent me the tracker, keep going we're almost there"

"How far are we? I don't want them to see us" Emily glanced at JJ before turning to the road again.

"About 15 minutes away" Emily nodded, they both kept a look out for the van. Thanks to Garcia they had a description.

"Right there Emily" JJ pointed out and Emily nodded, she slowed down the van slow enough and watched as Jim got out of the van.

"How far is the back up?" Emily asked as she leaned forward in her seat.

"I don't know, I'll call Hotch" JJ began to call her boss.

_"Hotchner"_

"Hotch, we're with the Unsub's, how far are you?" JJ asked as she kept a watchful eye on the Unsub, still no site of Ally.

_"I'm 10mins away, Reid and Morgan are a little more than that, and Rossi is about 20mins"_

"That's too long Hotch, we can't wait" JJ hung up before Hotch could say anything more.

"What are they doing out here?" Emily asked as she looked around their surroundings.

"Doesn't matter, let's go" JJ quietly got out of the car, followed by Emily.

The duo began to walk up to the Unsub's, guns in hand. Once they were close enough, Jim heard them and turned sharply. The two agents quickly aimed their guns.

"FBI, keep your hands where we can see them and slowly turn around" JJ said, but Jim simply smiled at her.

"Where is your partner?" Emily asked.

Before she could get an answer from him, she got it in the form of a shovel smashing her over the head. Emily hit the ground and JJ's attention turned to her.

"Emily!" JJ caught a glance at Ally, before Jim lunged at her.

He held that hand that had the gun down and turned JJ so her back faced the van, Jim rammed JJ into the van hard; knocking the wind out of JJ. He put his forearm against her throat with force, JJ hadn't caught her breath and now she was gasping for air. JJ's free hand started scratching at the forearm, desperate to breath. JJ tried to lift the hand with the gun, but Jim twisted her hand and the gun was removed from her hand, and moved into his. She looked over his shoulder and saw Ally smiling at what was happening; black dots were starting to take over JJ's vision.

JJ wasn't sure if she was hallucinating but she saw Emily stand up gingerly, aim her gun as best as she could and shoot Ally straight through the chest. Jim turned when he heard the gun shot, he lifted JJ's gun and pointed it at Emily, before either of them could shoot a third shot went off. The shot ripped through Jim's head, the blood splattering on JJ as he fell to the floor.

JJ was on the floor almost as fast, coughing and gasping for air; she saw Emily crawling over to her as well. From the corner of her eye she saw Hotch making his way over to them.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked Emily, knowing how much it hurt to get over the head with a shovel.

"I'll be fine" Emily was struggling to simply keep her eyes open. "Are you?" Emily lifted her hand and let her fingers graze over the bruise that was already forming on JJ's neck.

"Are you two okay?" Hotch kneeled down beside them.

"Emily might have a concussion" JJ said as she rubbed her neck.

"I'm fine" Emily argued.

"Come on" Hotch stood up and helped Emily up, and then helped JJ being watchful of her twisted wrist.

JJ turned when she heard something coming from the van; she looked at Hotch to see if he heard it too. Hotch nodded, he made sure Emily was able to stand before he let her go and took out his gun; aiming at the van. He gave JJ another nod and she opened the back door, inside the van bound and gagged was another young girl.

-  
Emily smiled when JJ walked into her hospital room.

"Hey Jay" JJ gave her a small smile and walked slightly closer to Emily.

"I got you some new clothes, blood splatter is so last year" They both let out a small laugh.

When Emily shot Ally she was hit with some blood, not as much as JJ when Jim was shot, but enough to change.

"Thank you" Emily put her ice pack down and shifted to the edge of the bed. "How's your wrist?" Emily pointed to JJ's right wrist, it was in a brace.

"Twist, but it'll be fine" JJ lifted it and flexed her fingers to prove her point.

"That's good" Silence took over.

"Look what I said about you having secrets that could harm Henry…That _was_ low, and I'm sorry" JJ gave her a small shrug. "I really didn't mean it"

"Then why say it?" Emily arched an eyebrow.

"Because I was mad, because I'm still mad and because I wasn't thinking when I said it" Emily gave her a nod.

JJ gave her one more smile before turning to walk away, before she could Emily grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"I would never do anything to hurt Henry, ever" JJ nodded as she turned to face Emily again. "I would give up my own life to save his, I almost did for Declan and I would do the same for Henry…Without hesitation"

"I know…I know, I'm sorry" JJ connected their eyes and for the first time since Emily's return, didn't break it.

"I never meant to hurt you JJ, _never_" Emily wanted nothing more than to pull the blond into her arms and kiss her.

"But you did" JJ said with a shrug and sad smile.

JJ turned and walked out of the room, she smiled when she saw Claire walking over to her.

"Are you okay baby?" Claire asked once she was close enough.

Instead of answering, JJ pulled Claire into a long but sweet kiss.

"I'm fine" JJ answered when they pulled away.

"Are you sure?" Claire ran her fingers over the bruising on JJ's neck.

"Yes, just tired" Claire laughed and wrapped her arm around JJ, pulling her closer.

"Let's get you home" Claire kissed JJ's temple as they walked towards the exit.


	5. Friends

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**_AN Hey readers, I am so sorry for the wait really I am, I had exams and had to focus on them but now I'm on break so my focus is back here, and I hope this chapter was worth it. I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always._**

JJ groaned, hearing the alarm on her phone going off. She moved her body away from Claire's and turned it off; she turned back and curled into Claire once more.

"We have to get up" Claire said, laughing when JJ mumbled something incoherent. "Baby" Claire laughed again when she felt JJ snuggle closer to her. "I can drop of Henry if you want, that way you can get some more rest"

"No, no" JJ began pulling away from Claire, stretching as she did. JJ moved so that she was leaning on the headboard. "I almost never get to drop him off at school"

"Alright" Claire mimicked JJ's position on the bed. "Then stop complaining"

"Shut up" JJ laughed, as she leaned in and kissed Claire. "I'll go wake him up" JJ said once she pulled away.

-  
Emily had just finished making her cup of coffee when she heard her cell phone go off, she groaned and reached over grabbing it. She didn't look at the ID as she picked it up, hoping that it wasn't Hotch asking her to come into work; it was their first day off in a long time.

"Prentiss"

_"Hey Princess, its Morgan" _Emily let out a sigh of relief and a small smile graced her face.

"Hey Morgan" Emily moved to her living room.

_"We haven't had a chance to hang out since you got back, want to grab some lunch together?"_

"Sure, meet at Café Collins around 12?" Emily asked as she got comfortable on her couch.

_"Yeah sounds good, see you then Emily" _Emily hung up and tossed the phone onto the coffee table.

-  
"Henry, you ready to go?" JJ asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Yeah, let's go mama" Henry grabbed his little back pack and put it around his shoulders.

"Babe?" JJ asked, as she turned to face her fiancée.

"Yeah" Claire picked up her own bag and the trio walked out of the house, JJ locking it as they walked out.

Claire got Henry comfortable in JJ's car, before making her way to her own car, JJ following her.

"Alright, so I'm going to drop Henry at Will's when he's done school" JJ wrapped her arms around Claire's neck as she spoke. "I should be home by the time you are"

"Sounds good, so you have plans today?" Claire opened her car door, tossing her bag in.

"Yeah, Pen and I are going wedding dress shopping" JJ's smile was big and bright.

"Exciting" Claire said with a laugh. "Well then, good luck. See you late babe" Claire leaned in and gave her a sweet kiss before getting into her car.

-  
Emily stepped into Café Collins, smiling when she saw Morgan already at a table. She took off her sunglasses and made her way over to him.

"Hey Morgan" Emily took a seat across from him.

"Hey Emily" Morgan gave her a smile in return.

"How are you?" Emily asked, getting comfortable in the booth.

"Actually, I was going to ask you that" Emily gave him an unsure look. "How've you been since you got back"

"I've been fine Morgan" Emily gave him a smile, but he saw right through it.

"Come on Emily, it's me, don't lie to me" Emily looked away from him and shrugged.

"It's hard" Morgan frowned. "Seeing JJ with Claire, it's hard"

"Yeah, I bet" Emily nodded, smiling at the waitress as she poured Emily some coffee.

"I didn't expect her to wait, but I didn't expect it to hurt so much when she did move on" Emily sipped her coffee.

"For a while JJ was a mess, when you left, she was a mess" Morgan took a sip of his own coffee. "I mean she held it together because she had to for Henry, but we all knew she was just broken" Emily looked down at her hands, unsure of what to say. "Claire pulled her through that, Claire was the light at the end of the tunnel that she needed"

"Morgan, if you think that I'm going to do something to break them a part, if that's what this speech is about, then don't waste your breath because I'm not going to" The anger was clear in Emily's voice, it slightly shocked Morgan.

"I'm not saying that Prentiss, I know that you would never do anything like that" Emily gave him a small nod. "I'm telling you this because I need you to understand why JJ hasn't forgiven you, why it's taking her so long to forgive you"

"Look I already said it before, I don't expect her to ever forgive me" Emily stopped talking when their waitress walked back to them; she took their order before one again walking away.

"Why did you leave, Em?" Emily looked at him with a frown.

"You know why-"Before she could say anything more, Morgan cut her off.

"Because you didn't feel like you belong, I know that part. Why did you leave JJ?" Morgan leaned forward, as he asked the question.

"I didn't want to leave JJ" Emily's voice, barley above a whisper.

"Then why?" Morgan didn't let her answer. "You guys were so amazing together, and then you just left"

"Because I had to Morgan, I was going numb" Emily's words came out in a harsh whisper, she stopped to take a calming breath. "JJ and I were going down a path of destruction because I was the way I was, I was going _numb_" Emily leaned against her booth, looking out the window that was beside her. "I didn't want to leave her, but maybe it's better that I did…Better for her, for Henry" Emily turned back to him. "With the way I was going, my feelings for her and Henry would have gone numb and we would have been here anyway" Morgan gave her a small nod. "I went to London and I cleared my head, and now I want to be here again, I have the same feeling I had when I first joined this place and it feels good"

"I'm glad to have you back Emily" Morgan reached over and briefly placed his hand on top of hers, but before he could pull away Emily clasped their hands together.

"When I didn't feel a part of the team, I want you to know that it had nothing to do with you or the rest of the team. That was all me" Morgan squeezed her hand, reassuring her that he knew that and Emily let his hand go when she saw the waitress make her way over again.

"Here you go" She placed their plates down. "Let me know if you need anything else" She turned her eyes to Emily as she finished her sentence. "Seriously, anything at all" With that she walked away; Morgan's eyes followed her.

"Was she just hitting on you?" Morgan asked, turning his eyes back to his partner.

"I think so" Emily laughed.

"You should go for it, she's pretty cute" Morgan laughed at the shocked look that crossed Emily's face.

"She's not older than 18, Morgan" Morgan gave her a smirk and shrug, as he cut into his stake.

"Did you date in London?" He asked before taking a bite of his stake.

"Mm" Emily paused to swallow her food. "I did, but nothing that lasted …Obviously" They both let out a small laugh. "I don't think I was ready to move on then"

"What about now?" Morgan raised an eyebrow.

"Seeing how happy JJ is, yeah maybe"

-  
"What about this one?" JJ asked, placing the white gown against herself and turning to Garcia.

"Uh" Garcia tilted her head to the side. "I think it's too conventional" JJ groaned and pulled the dress away from her body. "Seriously Jay, I think you should just go with a rainbow coloured dress?"

"A rainbow coloured dress?" JJ raised an eyebrow at Garcia through the mirror.

"Yeah, embrace your lesbian side" Garcia closed her fist and slightly pumped it.

"I'm marrying a woman, I think that's embrace enough" JJ laughed.

"Are you excited?" Garcia moved beside her.

"Yeah, Pen, yeah, I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life with her" JJ put the dress in her hand back up and picked up another one. "I really thought that I'd be going crazy with stress…But I'm not" A smile graced JJ's face, a smile bright than the sun.

"Only one more month" Garcia said, giving JJ a small nudge.

"I know it got here so fast" JJ once again switched dresses.

"Have you heard from your parents?" Garcia's voice held caution; she knew this was a sensitive subject. "You know, since you sent them the invitation?"

"The parents that have told me what I'm doing is disgusting and shameful, the same parents who have told me that want nothing to do with me back when I got with Emily?" JJ looked at Garcia and gave her a smirk. "No, I haven't heard from them about the wedding, and I'm sure that when they go the invitation they tossed it into a garbage can and lit it on fire" JJ was laughing but Garcia could see the pain in her eyes.

"I'm sorry pumpkin pie" Garcia placed her hand on JJ's back.

"Don't be" JJ took a deep breath and let it out with a smile. "Their loss anyway, I'm not the one missing out on my daughter getting married"

"Yeah and they'll realize it eventually" JJ nodded with a smile. "So who are you going to ask to walk you down the aisle?"

"Spence" JJ didn't even have to think about her answer.

"Really?" Garcia moved and sat down on an arm chair.

"Yeah, aside from you he's my best friend and I love him, I would have asked you but you're already my maid of honour" They both laughed.

"I think it's a great idea, he's gonna love it" Garcia leaned back in the chair and gave her a smile.

"Yeah, then he'll probably throw some statistic out there about how many fathers don't give away their daughters, then he'll feel bad and cover it up by giving me a statistic about how many brides fall on their face when they walk down the aisle" Garcia let out a loud laugh.

"That sounds exactly like Reid" JJ nodded with a smile.

"Alright, I really like this one" JJ pointed to the dress against her body. "I'm going to go try it on, be back" Garcia gave her a nod.

-  
Emily and Morgan walked out of the café and he walked her to her car, she unlocked her door before turning to him.

"Thanks for lunch, Morgan" She gave him a smile. "Next time it's on me"

"Sounds good Prentiss" Silence took over between the two, before either could break the silence Morgan pulled Emily into a tight hug. "I love you Emily and I am always here for you"

"I know" Emily squeezed him back. "I love you too Morgan"

-  
Garcia stood up when she heard the dressing room door open, JJ walked out and tears filled Garcia's eyes instantly.

"That bad?" JJ asked.

"That amazing" Garcia said, her voice choked up.

JJ turned and looked at herself in the mirror; she had to admit she looked pretty damn amazing. The dress was white, sleeveless, and it hugged JJ all the way down to her legs where it flowed out.

"JJ, you're going to be the most beautiful bride ever" Garcia swiped away a stray tear. "After me, whenever I get married" JJ laughed. "You are going to blow everyone's mind Jennifer Jareau"

"Soon to be Hastings" JJ said with another smile.

"Soon to be Hastings" Garcia repeated.

Once JJ was fitted for her dress, the two women left the store and headed to their cars.

"So are you changing your last name completely?" Garcia asked.

"Uh, no" JJ dug through her purse and pulled out her keys. "It's going to by hyphened, Jennifer Jareau-Hastings, that way I can still be JJ to everyone"

"I like it, has a really great ring to it" JJ nodded.

"I think so too" They stopped at their cars. "Alright, so you're coming with me to pick the dress up once it's finished right?"

"Yeah of course, then we'll keep it at my place" Garcia answered before JJ into a hug. "See you then, sugarplum"

-  
Later that night, JJ and Claire stumbled into their living room, lips attached and hands roaming. They had been at a club earlier and had gotten hot and heavy on the dance floor, once the need to have each other became too much the two hurried home.

Claire shoved JJ into the wall and put her body tight against JJ's, effectively holding JJ in place. Their kiss was all passion, tongues and lips moving as one. Claire broke the kiss and playfully nipped JJ's lips before moving her kisses to JJ's neck; she sucked on her pulse point not caring if she left a mark.

JJ ran her hands through Claire's hair; she lifted Claire's face and attached their lips once more. She moved her hands down Claire's body; she began to un-tuck Claire's shirt from her jeans and started to lift. Claire broke the kiss long enough for JJ to remove her shirt and throw it somewhere on the living room floor, once their lips were attached again Claire began to work on the buttons on JJ's shirt.

JJ broke the kiss and attached her lips to Claire's neck, Claire moaned as she pushed JJ's shirt off her shoulders and onto the floor. JJ lifted her head and Claire kissed her roughly, but the kiss didn't last long. Claire began to drop to her knees, kissing JJ's body as she went down. She started to pepper kisses on JJ's stomach when JJ roughly shoved Claire's shoulders, Claire fell to the floor with a smile and her smile widened when JJ moved on top of her.

They began to kiss again and Claire was quick to flip them over, wanting to be on top. JJ unclasped Claire's bra and tossed it aside, letting her hands palm the full breasts. Claire broke the kiss to let out a moan, she didn't bother to unclasp JJ's bra but rather pulled the cups down and attached her mouth to one nipple and let her fingers play with the other. JJ let out a loud moan and arched her back, seeking more contact.

Claire raised her head and attached their lips once more, her hand moving down to JJ's skirt and moved up her skirt. Her hands grazed JJ through her thong, and JJ moaned in her mouth before breaking the kiss needing to breathe.

"Oh God" JJ breathed out, she scratched at Claire's back.

Claire began to remove JJ's skirt before finally removing her bra; she attached her lips to JJ's neck again. JJ moved her hands between them and undid Claire's belt, once she removed the belt she unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. Claire helped her remove the pants, before removing her own and JJ's panties. Claire settled between JJ's legs and suddenly they were…_connected_. They both moaned at the feeling of the other.

"Fuck JJ" Claire was struggling to hold herself up; JJ leaned up so that her lips were beside Claire's ear.

"Go fast, go hard" She whispered, her voice was so sexy that Claire lost her breath hearing it.

"That's how you want it?" Claire whispered back.

"That's how I need it" JJ laid back down.

She raised her right leg and hooked it over Claire's hip; Claire took a hold of her leg before leaning down and kissed JJ once more. She broke the kiss and then gave JJ what she wanted, she moved fast and hard. JJ's moans drove her on; Claire attached her lips to JJ's nipple and started to move just a little bit harder, a little bit faster.

JJ could see the signs that Claire was close; she moved one hand from Claire's back and raised her head so that their eyes would meet.

"Let go" JJ spoke against her lips. "Let go" She kissed Claire softly. "Let go, it's okay"

Claire's body tensed, her grip on JJ's leg got tighter and her hips bucked uncontrollably, pushing JJ closer to the edge too; finally Claire plummeted off the edge of pleasure. She put her hand between them and touched JJ right where she needed it the most, JJ's body tensed up for a moment and her back arched before she went over the same edge.

Almost two hours later the couple were still on the living room floor, JJ wrapped in Claire's arms, both of them under the couch throw, and in front of the fireplace that Claire had put on a little while ago. Claire was behind JJ, one arm wrapped around JJ waist and the other under JJ's head. JJ was slowly stroking the arm around her waist.

"Can you remember the last time we were this wild?" JJ asked, looking over her shoulder at Claire.

"Before we moved in together" They both laughed, remember all the nights spent in Claire's apartment.

"Our sixth month anniversary" JJ added, Claire nodded before placing a kiss on JJ's shoulder.

"Our engagement night" Claire said with a smile, lightly nipping JJ's shoulder.

"Oh God, that night was intense" JJ smiled at the memory. "I had bruises in places I didn't even know I had places"

"Yeah, I had so much carpet burn that night, that I think I soaked in a bath tub for an hour the next day to ease the pain" They both let out a small laugh. "That was an amazing night though" JJ nodded in agreement. "I'd do it again"

JJ shifted slightly so she could kiss Claire, we she pulled back she smiled at her.

"I can't wait to be married to you" JJ told her. "You mean everything to me"

"Right back at you, I love you more than anything in this world" They smiled at each other again before leaning in for another kiss. Claire pulled back and her eyes caught the time. "We should head to bed"

"That is a really shitty idea" They both laughed.

"Baby, I have a staff meeting tomorrow, as much as I don't want to get up I have to" Claire moved her arms away from JJ and stood up, grabbing her clothes as she did, JJ followed.

Claire made sure to put the fire out before they headed upstairs.

-  
The next morning Claire walked downstairs and found JJ sitting in the kitchen, she looked to be deep in thought. Claire walked over to her and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head.

"What are you doing up?" Claire asked as she moved in front of the counter that JJ was sitting at.

"Will called, Henry had a nightmare and just needed to hear my voice" JJ answered. "And then I just couldn't get back to sleep"

"Is he okay?" Concern was clear in Claire's voice.

"Yeah, he's fine" The room fell into a silence.

The room was taken over by silence; neither were sure how long it lasted before JJ broke it.

"I'm thinking about talking to Emily" Claire threw her a frown, unsure what she meant. "She saved my life-"Before JJ could say anything more Claire cut her off.

"And you're finally calm enough to let her talk" Claire finished.

"Maybe you should work as a profiler for the team" Claire rolled her eyes and laughed.

"I'm no profiler, I just know you really well" They shared a small smile. "I think it's a great idea"

"Really?" Clare nodded.

"It's time you let that go, you don't need it holding you down" Claire began to pour herself some coffee.

"Are you okay with me talking to her? This will be the first time we talk outside the office" Claire gave her a shrug.

"I trust you, JJ" JJ threw her a big smile.

"I know you do, but it's different with Emily. There's a lot of history there and I don't ever be the reason you feel uncomfortable" Claire reached over and put her hand on top of JJ's.

"That's all it is though babe, it's history" JJ gave her another smile. "It's a good idea, do it" She leaned in and kissed JJ a couple of time. "I have to go, love you"

"Love you too" Claire kissed JJ once more before leaving.

JJ picked up her phone and stared at it for a moment before she went to her contacts, scrolled down to Emily and after thinking it over just once more, she clicked call.

After about three rings, Emily picked up.

_"JJ?" _

"Yeah it's me, I was wondering if maybe you want to meet up…Grab a coffee and maybe talk?" JJ waited for an answer.

_"I'd love to"_

They arranged a time and hung up, with JJ trying her hardest to believe that this was for the better.


	6. Forget the Past, Focus on the Future

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**_AN Hey readers, I am so sorry for the wait really I am, I just couldn't figure out some stuff but all that has been taking care of. I want to thank Crazy Heart 101 for the inpiring words that helped me get back on track with this story.I hope this chapter was worth it. I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always._**

JJ turned her car into the parking lot of the coffee shop, the shop she and Emily decided to meet at. She parked her car and stepped out, she slung her purse over her shoulder and turned her head when she heard a door close, about three cars down she saw Emily step out of her car.

The former lovers gave each other a small smile; they stepped beside each other before starting to make their way over to the coffee shop.

"How's Henry?" Emily asked as they walked.

"He's good" Before JJ could say anything more; an explosion went off in the coffee shop right in front of them.

The blast sent Emily and JJ flying backwards, they both landed on the ground hard. JJ could see people running, and chaos breaking out before everything went black.

-  
"HOTCH" Hotch looked out his office window before rushing outside.

Hotch ran down to the bullpen, many people were standing around a TV. Hotch made his way through the crowd and stood beside Morgan.

"What happened?" He asked as he watched the news.

"They said an explosion went off in a coffee shop" Morgan answered, Hotch shared a look with Rossi.

"Why a coffee shop?" Rossi asked.

Hotch turned to the crowd of people.

"We need everyone working on this case, get back to your desks and start making some phone calls. Find where and how we can help" The crowd broke apart and did what was told. "Where are Prentiss and JJ?"

'They haven't come in yet" Reid answered as he jogged over to his desk.

Hotch pulled out his phone and called JJ.

-  
JJ's eyes began to flicker open, she could hear a buzzing but she wasn't sure if it was her ears or something else. She opened her eyes and closed them again; she did this two more times before she could manage to keep her eyes open. She saw her phone vibrating but she couldn't hear it, she figured it was her ears buzzing. With a groan she reached for the phone but it stopped ringing,

JJ took in her surroundings and realized that the blast had thrown her on her stomach, her ribs were killing her and she was struggling to breathe meaning they were broken or cracked. Her head was throbbing and she could feel some sticky liquid sliding down her face, JJ lifted her hand and touched the side of her face. Pulling her hand back she saw her fingers coated in blood, her eyes grew wide when she remembered that she was here with someone.

"Emily" JJ groaned out as she turned on her back.

She looked to the left and saw the other woman lying on her back; JJ struggled to crawl over to her. JJ placed two of her fingers against Emily's neck, letting out a breath of air when she found a pulse.

"Emily" JJ lightly shook her.

Emily let out a groan and her eyes began to flutter open, JJ watched her eyes as best as she could.

"JJ?" Emily tried to sit up but she fell back immediately.

"Take it easy, there was an explosion" JJ said as she looked around once again.

She heard a buzzing noise once more; she looked down at her hands and saw that it wasn't her phone this time. She reached for Emily's purse and pulled her phone out, she could barely make out the name on the caller ID but she got just enough.

"Hotch?" JJ asked as she answered.

_"JJ?"_

"Hotch, there was an explosion and Emily and I were here" JJ held her head and looked around.

_"Are you okay?" _

"We…I…"It was clear that JJ was disoriented.

_"Alright JJ, I want you both to stay where you are and wait for help. We'll be there soon"_

Hotch pulled up to the crime scene with the rest of the team, he saw a lot of people being treated. They were either on the ground with a red sticker on them, immediate attention, sitting on some sort of surface with a yellow sticker, mild injuries, or a black sticker, death, Hotch turned his eyes away when he saw a young child's body being covered up.

Hotch started to walk through the crowed trying to find his two profilers, after a few minutes he found JJ sitting on the back of an ambulance and he quickly made his way over to her. JJ saw him walking over, over the paramedic's shoulder and offered him a small smile.

"How are you?" Hotch took off his sunglass to get a better look at her.

"I fine" JJ answered with a smile.

"How is she?" Hotch turned to the paramedic, JJ rolled her eyes and almost regretted it right away when the pain shot through her head.

"She had a concussion and cracked ribs, her eardrum are ruptured but it'll heal on its own" He moved away from JJ and turned to Hotch. "That's the most serious injuries, other than that she has a few bruises and cuts but overall she got lucky"

"I can keep working right?" JJ asked.

"Not in the field, if you stay in the office then yes" The paramedic answered. "But you're going to have to take a couple of days off in order to heal after this"

"Consider it done" Hotch spoke for JJ.

They both shook the paramedics hand and he left them, Hotch turned back to JJ and saw her staring at something. Hotch turned and followed her line of site, her eyes were locked on the body of a young boy with a black sticker on his chest.

"Have you called Henry" Hotch asked as he turned back to JJ, he knew what she was going through. When he found out about the explosion the first thing he did was make sure that Jack was safe.

"He's with Will and I can't get through" JJ answered Hotch but couldn't move her eyes away.

"Try again" JJ finally looked away and gave Hotch a nod, she reached for the phone that was beside her but before she could do anything it began to ring.

"Hello" JJ was quick to answer it.

_"Baby, are you okay?" _JJ heard Claire's panicked voice.

"I'm fine, I haven't been able to call Will-"Claire cut her off.

_"He was called in because of the explosion, I have Henry with me and we're on our way home" _JJ let out a breath of relief. _"Will called me and told me to pick Henry up because he had been called in and he couldn't get you, school was shut down and everyone was sent home" _

"Alright, just head home and stay there" JJ said, running a hand over her eyes.

_"Alright, but are you sure you're okay? That was the coffee shop that you and Emily were going to"_

"Yeah and we're both fine, I've only got some minor injuries" JJ saw Hotch roll his eyes and she threw him a smirk.

_"Just be careful, I love you"_

"You too, love you" JJ hung up.

"Where's Emily?" JJ pointed across to another ambulance and Hotch nodded. "Are you sure you want to work and not go home?"

"I need to be here Hotch" JJ turned her eyes back to the young boy. "That could have been Henry but it's not, but some other mother out there is going to be mourning the loss of their son. I have to be here"

"Okay, have someone drive you back to the office and from there you can work with Garcia" JJ nodded and moved to stand; Hotch had to steady her as she swayed slightly.

"I'm alright" He nodded and let her go.

Hotch made his way over to Emily and once he got there he found out her concussion was slightly worse than JJ, she took something sharp to her knee which meant she would have to stay off the leg.

"I know you're going to want to be in the field but you can't, I'm keeping you in the office" Emily made no move to protest she knew it would get her nowhere.

Before anything more could be said, Emily's eyes caught people running around. Agents picking up their phone and their faces laced with panic, and new reporters rushing to their vans…Something was wrong.

"Hotch" Hotch looked at Emily before looking around as well, he could see it too.

Suddenly Hotch's phone rang, he picked it up and closed his eyes when her heard what Strauss was saying to him. He hung up the phone and turned back to Emily.

"Another bomb" Emily's eyes widened in shock. "This time it was a suicide bomber"

"That could have happened here too, I mean we haven't assessed the scene yet" Prentiss said as she looked over the scene. "This is officially terrorism Hotch" He gave her a nod.

"We need to get back to the office, we have to look at this differently" Hotch helped Emily off the ambulance and back to one of the SVU's.

-  
"Why did they target these areas?" Was the first question that Hotch asked, pointing to pictures on the TV.

"Popular public area's" Morgan answered. "The second target was DuPont Circle, it's always busy and the coffee shop is in the heart of downtown and probably the busiest"

"They're targeting population, rather than something symbolic?" JJ asked.

"Possibly" Reid started. "They're killing themselves in the process, which usually means brain washing. We could be dealing with a group that believes that they're doing this for God"

Before anything more could be said Garcia walked into the BAU room with her laptop, she took a seat beside JJ.

"I found the video footage from both bombings" Garcia hooked her laptop up to the main screen and brought up the outside of the coffee shop. "I looked it over and from what I can tell no one was watching but this man did go in moments before JJ and Emily arrived" Garcia pressed play and they saw a man in an oversized jacket walk into the coffee shop, a few moments later JJ and Emily got out of their cars and then the explosion.

"Any way you can get a look at his face?" Rossi asked, still staring at the footage.

"No, I tried everything I could but he knew that there were cameras watching" Garcia tapped her keyboard and the next location came onto the screen. "That's the second attacker" Garcia pointed the man out on the screen, this time they could see his face. "I took his face and I'm running it through the FBI database right now, we should have a result soon" Garcia pressed play.

The team watched as the man stepped into the middle of the crowd, he stripped his jacket off and within seconds he pushed the rigger in his hands.

"All those lives, just taken away for nothing" Prentiss shook her head.

"We need to find these guys before they keep this going" Morgan clenched his fist.

"How?" All eyes turned to JJ. "We have nothing to go on"

"By doing our job" Was Hotch is only answer.

-  
It had been a couple of hours and they had nothing, except a new crime scene. There had been another suicide bomber at a subway station. Reid and Morgan were there right now and looking it over, hoping to find something…Anything.

Reid and Morgan walked passed a few people in order to get to another section of the crime scene when Reid heard it. Bringer of Death, the words was spoken in a forging language but Reid heard it and understood it. Reid turned too look the crowed over and his eyes locked with another man's, the man was quick to turn away and began to make his way through the crowd.

"Morgan" Morgan turned and Reid pointed to the man that started walking faster.

"Hey!" Morgan called and the man began to run.

Morgan pushed through the crowed and chased after him, he almost got away but Morgan was too fast. Morgan tackled him to the ground and made to get a good grip on him as he lifted him back up. Reid quickly caught up to them; he took his cuffs out and handed them to Morgan.

-  
"How's your leg?" JJ asked, taking a seat beside Emily in the BAU room.

"Nothing I can't deal with" Emily answered, tossing another file back on to the desk.

"Emily" Emily finally looked up at JJ, fighting the urge to roll her eyes when she saw the look on JJ's face. This woman still knew her too well.

"It's in some pain, but DC needs up more than I need to worry about it" JJ nodded, knowing that was the most Emily would ever admit about the pain.

"Stiches?" JJ raised an eyebrow.

"Only 6" Emily shrugged, she's had worse.

"Do you want an Advil?" JJ dug into her purse, not bothering to wait for Emily's answer. "I it's not the pain meds that you haven't gotten yet" See too well. "But it'll take some pain away" JJ handed her the bottle.

"Thank you" Emily took two before giving her back the bottle.

The rest of the team walked back into the room, the girls turned to them.

"Anything?" JJ asked, Morgan shook his head and disappointment filled her.

"He's not talking" Morgan sat down and ran a hand over his face.

They had interrogated Reza Rasheed for hours but got nothing out of him, frustration was putting it lightly. Morgan almost put Reza's head through a wall when another explosion happened, this time in the parking lot of the DC mall. Garcia ran him through the database and came up with nothing, same as the man from the second bombing.

The team was sitting around trying to come up with ways to get the man to talk; they were running out of time.

"Threaten his family" Everyone turned to Emily in shock. "Not like that" She said quickly. "Let's tell him that it's on the news that we have someone from the group of terrorists, tell him that if he doesn't tell us where their headquarters is that we won't take his family in for protection. We know this guy isn't the leader, he doesn't fit the profile, if he thinks his family is in danger because of the boss then he'll talk"

"Isn't death something these guys want?" Garcia asked. "Is it even going to faze him, I mean wouldn't he want to take his family with him?"

"If he was the one taking them" Hotch spoke up. "In his mind he's going to assume that his boss thinks he talked, that could mean a painful death for his family"

"That might be enough to get him to talk, it's worth a shot" Rossi said with a shrug.

-  
It had worked, he talked and there was a team currently arresting the last 5 men of the group. The BAU team were not allowed to go on the raid, Strauss told Hotch that it was too dangerous and that he should let the squads that trained for this stuff daily to handle it. Hotch agreed, reluctantly, but he agreed. Erin had arranged for them to watch a live feed of the take down. The SWAT team that went in had used tear gas to subdue the group before going in, not having to fire a shot which was the safest thing to do. The bomb squad then took over.

Hotch, Morgan, Reid, and Rossi were watching the video while JJ and Emily were doing the last bit of paper work to close the case.

"Guys" The three men turned to Reid. "Reza said they were a group of eleven, five of them are in the warehouse, Reza is with us, and there was four bombings…I count six bombs, where's the seventh?" Reid turned his eyes to them. "There's one more man"

"How are we going to find him, he could be anywhere?" Morgan began to pace the room.

"He could be on his way here" Reid caught their attention once more. "We lied to him about his arrest being public but it could have been without us knowing, Morgan and I arrested him at one of the bombing locations there were reporters all over that place"

"We could have been leading him here the entire time" Rossi said, a look of slight panic coming over him.

"Get JJ on the phone with one of her connections from the media-"Before Hotch could say anything more, Morgan cut him off.

"Hotch, he's here" Hotch turned to the window of the BAU room and saw a man walking in, he was dressed in an overly big coat and they knew that was there guy.

Hotch pulled out his phone and called Prentiss and the man walked closer to her desk, surpassing JJ who was not at her desk.

"Reid" Spencer turned to Rossi. "Get the bomb squad on the line"

-  
"Prentiss" Emily answered her phone, not looking at the ID.

"Emily, the man walking to your desk is part of the group" Emily became tense but tried not to show it. "Glance up, but don't give it away" She did as she was told and saw him right away. "Do you think you can subdue him before-"Hotch was cut off by the man throwing his coat off, Emily hung up her phone and used the desk to stand up.

Someone yelled bomb and everyone turned to the man in the middle of the bullpen, guns trained on him but not being able to shoot because he had his thumb ready on the trigger. If they shot they risked his thumb putting pressure on the trigger.

Hotch, Morgan, Rossi, and Reid all walked out of the BAU room guns aimed as well, JJ stood a few feet behind him. Emily was the only one who didn't have her gun out, he was closest to her and she was going to have to try to talk him down.

"Sir" The man turned his eyes to Emily. "You don't have to do this, just put the trigger down and keep your hands up; we're not going to hurt you"

"God will forgive me for what I must do, for it is for him" Emily felt panic set in, her brain was screaming that this man had his mind set, but she kept trying.

"God doesn't want you to do this" She leaned on her uninjured leg and held both her hands out to him. "Please"

"He does" With that he pushed down on the trigger.

Emily flinched and waited for the pain to hit her, but it never did. The man looked down at his trigger and Emily realized that the trigger malfunctioned. She reacted quickly, tackling into him and sending them both to the ground. She didn't care that she felt the stiches in her knee rip open, she only cared that she wasn't going to give him a second chance to use that trigger.

The trigger fell from the Unsub's hands, and rolled to someone, Emily just care that it wasn't in his hands. They struggled on the ground for a moment, making it hard for anyone to take a shot. The Unsub got the upper hand and punched Emily before pushing her off him, he got to his feet as he pulled something from just under the vest that held the bomb; this time facing JJ and had his back to the other four profilers. Emily's eyes grew wide when she saw what was in his hand.

"GRANADE!" She yelled from the ground.

The Unsub's fingers moved to the pin but before he could touch it a shot went off and he began to fall to the ground, grenade still in hand. Emily looked over her shoulder and saw that the shot had come from JJ. JJ was holding her ears because of the bang; her ears couldn't handle the loud noise.

Emily turned her eyes back to the Unsub and saw that Morgan had caught him while he was falling; Hotch had his hands around the grenade and eased it out of his hands when the Unsub was on the ground. Emily felt a hand on her thigh; she put her own hand over it knowing who it was. The two hands intertwined as bomb squad members ran passed them and to Hotch. JJ and Emily let out a breath of relief when the grenade was placed in the hands of a squad member.

"Hey" Emily looked up from her hospital bed and smiled at JJ.

"Hey JJ" JJ smiled back at her and made her way over to the bed, taking a seat on the edge.

"Are you okay?" Emily nodded.

"Yeah, are you?" JJ nodded.

"So, today was quite the day huh?" They both laughed. "Em, when today started I wanted to know why you left two years ago" Emily looked down at the bed. "But I don't want to know anymore" Emily looked at her again in slight shock. "Not because I don't care, but because it's in the past and I just want to focus on the future…After today, the past just doesn't seem as important anymore" Emily lifted her hand and placed it on top of JJ's. "I would love if we could be friends again"

"Thank God" Emily said with a small laugh. "I want that so much JJ"

"Okay, as long as you understand that, that is all we can be" Emily nodded, understanding what she meant. "I love my fiancé and nothing can ever happen with us"

"I understand, but I need you to understand that there is always going to be a part of me that is in love with you" In those words Emily boar her soul. "I'm not going to act on it, but I can't turn it off"

"Fair enough" They gave each other a small smile. "Are you staying in the hospital tonight?"

"Yeah, so excited for the hospital food" JJ laughed light, trying not to hurt her ribs as she did.

"Tell you what, I have to come in again tomorrow to get my ears looked at again, why don't I bring you some not hospital food?" JJ asked with a smile.

"Yes please" Emily groaned out, squeezing JJ's hand.

"Alright I gotta go" JJ smiled at Emily once more before walking out of the room.

If JJ was honest with herself, really honest with herself, she knew that deep down there was a part of her that would always be in love with Emily and she would never be able to turn it off.


	7. Letters of regret

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**A/N: Hey guys, so I know that this is a much shorter chapter than what I would normally write but it's more of a filler. The next chapter is going to be a big one. I hope you enjoy this chapter none the less, thanks for reviewing you have no idea how much it means to me. Love forever and always. **

"He's running!" Emily yelled into her mic, as she watched the Unsub run down a hallway. "JJ, he's coming your way"

JJ moved from the room she was in and ran down that hallway, she saw the Unsub heading to the back door. She used his own momentum against him, so as she tackled into him they both went tumbling out the back door and down the porch steps. JJ rolled away from him and stood up as fast as possible; the Unsub followed in her step and pointed his gun at her. JJ reacted too fast, she pushed the hand that held the gun away from her and punched the Unsub in the face, knocking him to his knees where JJ hit him once more. Once he was on the ground JJ pulled the gun away from him and pointed it at him, the Unsub stood up any way as if daring JJ to shoot him.

"I don't want to do this, get on your knees now" JJ held her stance.

The Unsub was about to run at JJ, but he was tackled to the ground by Morgan. JJ let out a breath and lowered the gun.

"Are you alright?" Morgan asked as he hauled the Unsub onto his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine" JJ gave him a reassuring smile.

The rest of the team came out the back door, once making sure that JJ was okay they began to head to the SVU's.

-  
"Well I think I am ready for a couple of days off" JJ groaned out as she sat down on the jet, the rest of team agreed.

"You got it" Hotch told them with a small smile. "I think you've all earned a couple of days to yourself"

"Oh come on JJ" JJ turned her attention to Morgan. "You just came back last week" Morgan's face held amusement.

"Hey, out of the two of us, who is planning a wedding?" Morgan laughed. "It's less than two weeks away and I still have a lot to get done" JJ turned her attention to Hotch. "By the way Hotch, can you please thank Beth for sending me my 'something blue'?"

"Of course, she was glad to do it" Hotch gave her a reassuring smile.

"Is Claire excited?" Reid asked.

"Oh yeah, beyond excited actually" The team let out a laugh. "Can't really blame her, I am too"

Out of the corner of her eye JJ saw Emily put headphones on, she leaned back in her seat and shut her eyes. JJ knew she was doing it to shut out the wedding talk, for a second JJ felt guilty about talking about the wedding in front of her.

-  
"Morgan!" Morgan and Emily both turned when they heard Garcia calling.

They had just gotten off the jet, JJ and Reid were off to grab dinner, Hotch was on his way home, and Rossi had plans to meet someone. Prentiss and Morgan decided to head back to the office and get some paper work done and out of the way.

"Hey mama" Morgan smiled as Garcia approached.

"I bought my dress for the wedding, I sent you a picture" Garcia stopped once she was in front of them. "You better ensure that your suite matches it"

"You guys are going together?" Emily asked with a smile, they both gave her a nod. "That's so sweet"

"Are you going?" Garcia asked, Emily shook her head.

"I wasn't invited" Before either of them could say anything, Emily continued. "It's for the better, trust me…I don't think I can handle watching her get married"

"I'm really sorry Em" Garcia placed her hand on top of Emily's shoulder.

"Don't be, I was the one that screwed us up" Emily shrugged. "I know I said we should do some paper work, but how about we get a drink instead?"

"That sounds like a plan, you in baby girl?" Morgan asked Garcia.

"Always hot stuff, always"

-  
JJ woke up the next day and rolled over, reaching out for Claire but found empty space. JJ groaned and sat up, Claire had taken the day off to spend some time with JJ. JJ got out of bed and went through her morning routine before heading downstairs.

"Hey" JJ said as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey babe" Claire looked up from her coffee and smiled.

JJ walked over to her and gave her a quick kiss before pouring herself a cup of coffee; she took a seat beside Claire and opened up the morning paper.

"This came in the mail today" Claire placed an envelope in front of JJ.

"It's from my parents" The two shared a look before JJ opened up the envelope.

Less than two weeks before their wedding and now her parents decided to contact her, JJ was sure that she would never hear from them. It had actually been years since she talked to them, every time she called to check in they never answered. JJ dropped hope of them ever talking to her again, it hurt her that they chose to shut her out…But she had her own family now and they were her priority, she could go her whole life holding that bitterness with her.

"What does it say?" Claire asked, after give JJ some time to read it over.

"That they regret to inform me that they can't make it to the wedding" JJ shook her head and put the letter down.

"JJ…"Claire placed her hand on JJ's shoulder.

"I don't understand them; I mean was this letter just something else to hurt me with?" JJ jumped up from her chair and began to pace the kitchen. "Like I didn't already figure out that they weren't going to show up, I mean it's less than two weeks away I think I got the fucking message" Claire stood up from her chair, but she made no move to get closer to JJ. She knew that JJ needed to let this out. "What the fuck kind of letter is that anyway, 'we reject to inform you'?" JJ let out a humorless laugh. "No ever, 'sorry we can't make it' no, because that's beyond them" JJ turned towards the nearest wall and slammed her hand into it.

"JJ-"Claire tried to cut in but JJ kept going.

"I can't believe them, they're actually going to skip our wedding because they are just that closed minded" JJ ran a frustrated hand through her hair. "All because they can't understand that love is love no matter the gender" This time JJ slammed her hand on the counter. "I spent years talking about my wedding day with my mother, she always said that she couldn't wait to see me get married to the perfect man" JJ laughed again. "I should have fucking known that, that's exactly what she meant. I should have known that they were going to be that closed off, I fucking hate them"

"JJ, you don't really feel like that" JJ turned to Claire sharply.

"DON'T TELL ME HOW I FEEL" JJ screamed, Claire couldn't remember a time when JJ was this mad. JJ had bottled this all up for so long and now it all just came rushing out. "My mother is supposed to be with me through this, trying her best to convince me to wear her dress and calming me down by telling me all about her wedding day. My father, my father is supposed to give me away; instead I have my best friend doing it…SO yeah, I hate them for this"

JJ finally let the tears she had been holding in all these years fall; she let herself break because she just couldn't hold it together anymore. Claire moved swiftly to JJ and pulled her into her arms, she held JJ as the woman cried and held her tighter as the sobs wracked her body.

"Why don't my parents love me?" JJ whispered.

Claire felt her own tears fall at that, she had words that she could say to JJ, but she knew that they would hold no comfort for the woman. So Claire just held her, JJ had once told her that she felt safest when she was in Claire's arms, if that was the case that Claire was never going to let go.


	8. Darkness

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**A/N: This is a big chapter and I hope you guys enjoy it, it was not easy to write but I am really happy with how it turned out. A lot of you want Emily to be with someone and I've taken that into consideration. Thank you for all the reviews and follows and favs. Love forever and always. **

_-  
Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred, how did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it?_

-  
"Babe, come on I need to go!" Claire yelled from downstairs.

"Yeah JJ, so do I" Will yelled from beside Claire.

"I'm coming, I'm coming" JJ called back, JJ's footsteps could be heard as she hurried down the stairs.

"Henry's going to be late for school and that's on you" Will said with a smile, JJ laughed.

"Shut up and go" JJ bent down to Henry and gave him a small kiss. "Love you bud" She quickly hugged Will and the two were out the door.

"Alright, I should be home for dinner do you need me to pick anything up?" Claire asked as JJ walked her to the door.

"Milk please" Claire nodded before kissing JJ and heading to her car. "Hey speedy speederson" Claire turned to JJ. "I love you"

"I love you too" Claire gave her a small smile before getting into the car.

JJ had the day off today; she had taken it to finish the last bit of preparation for the wedding. It was only a few days away and she just wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. If the team really needed her for anything she told them to call and she would head to work.

After the incident with the letter from her parents, JJ had decided to just let it go. They just weren't worth her time anymore, she cried enough over them. She would simply think of Henry and smile, knowing that she would never ever treat her son that way. JJ felt a lot better after getting that out of her system, it had been building up in her for a long time and now it was like a weight was just lifted off her chest. She could breathe again and nothing felt better than that.

-  
"Can anyone tell me why Spartacus was one of the most feared men?" Claire asked her class, before she could get an answer the bell rang. "Never mind, we'll cover that tomorrow" Her class began to gather their belongings. "Don't forget that you have a test in two weeks, and more importantly your essays are due tomorrow!" Claire yelled over the bell and the noise of her students.

She began to make her way out of her class room, she passed by students and threw a few a smile. Just as she was about to turn a corner she heard a gunshot go off, Claire froze for a moment…And panic erupted around her. Someone ran straight into her and it woke her from her daze, she turned back to the hallway she came from and opened an empty classroom.

She held the door open for a few students to run in, a student tripped over his own feet and hit the ground. Claire moved to him, helping him up and pulling him into the classroom before closing the door and locking it. She could hear the announcement coming over the PA system, alerting them that this was a lockdown.

"Sit in a line over there" Claire told the students in the room, they all began to move. All accept one. "Please, go with the others" She whispered to the boy, the boy that she helped into the room.

"It won't help them" She heard him say, Claire moved to stand in front of him and gave him a frown. "Nothing will" With that he pulled out his .45 hand gun, from his oversized hoddie, and pointed it at Claire.

"Oh my God" She whispered, hearing the gasps and cries coming from the 4 students behind her.

"Take a seat Ms. Hastings"

-  
"Well I like the idea of white roses just on our table" JJ said over the phone, talking to her florist. "Red on everyone else's? Yeah that sounds great" JJ pulled the phone away from her ear when she herd the beep, she saw Garcia calling her. "I'm sorry, can I call you back really quick?" JJ quickly went to the next call. "Pen-"Garcia cut her off before she could finish.

_"JJ, you need to get to the BAU now…It's bad" _

"I'll be right there" JJ hung up the phone, she ran up the stairs to change.

Once she got everything she needed, she headed into her car. JJ began her fast drive to the BAU, as she was driving the radio station she was on cut the song they were currently playing and began to talk.

_"It has been brought to our attention that St. Michael high school is in a lockdown" _JJ felt her heart stop, she quickly pulled her car over. _"Gunshots were heard from the school, currently the police and FBI are outside the school. Eye witnesses are calming to have seen different things, as far as we know no one has been killed or injured yet…We have no name on the gunmen" _JJ took a few deep breaths before continuing her drive to the BAU.

-  
"What's your name son?" Claire asked the boy, he turned his eyes to her and shook his head. Claire was almost certain she never had him in any of her classes, she remembered her students.

"Can any of you tell her my name?" He asked the four students, they looked at each other but refused to meet his eyes. "I can tell her yours, Stacy Beal, Lisa Fleming, Nathan Pascal, and Johnny Reese" The four students glanced at each other before turning their eyes to the ground. "Do any of you even know my name?" When none of them answered he pointed the gun at Lisa. "DO YOU?"

"No, no!" She answered, putting her hands in front of her face in order to shield herself from the gun. "I'm sorry!"

"Please son, just put the gun away" Claire spoke with a soft voice, trying her best to mask the fear she was feeling.

"No!" He stepped back from Lisa but kept his gun on them. "Let's be honest, no one in this fucking school would show me any form of attention if this GUN wasn't in my hand"

"Is that what this is about?" Nathan asked. "You want _attention _so you shoot up a school?" Claire was about to tell Nathan to shut up, but the gunmen did it for her.

"NO!" He pointed the gun at Nathan, who looked away from the barrel. "This is about showing you how I feel walking into this school everyday"

-  
JJ and Garcia pulled up to the school, they saw the BAU mobile office parked and quickly made their way over there. Garcia had briefed JJ on the situation when she got to the office; JJ had tried calling Claire's cell a few times but got no answer. There was a fear in her gut that she couldn't explain, she just wanted Claire to call her and tell her that she was okay.

JJ and Garcia walked into the truck and were greeted by the team, JJ made her way over to them and Garcia walked over to the computers. Hotch handed JJ a bulletproof vest, she was quick to strap it on, Hotch pulled her aside as she strapped the vest on.

"Have you heard from Claire?" JJ shook her head.

"No, I called a couple of times but no answer" Hotch looked at her with sympathy, but she didn't need that. "I'm sure she's fine, she normally leaves her phone in the staff room…So it doesn't interrupt classes" Hotch placed his hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile.

"Ready to catch this guy?" JJ gave him a nod and they made their way back to the team.

"As it stands right now, no one has a proper description of the Unsub" Reid started. "All we have so far is that there was a shot and then panic"

"Is there any way to get eyes inside the school?" JJ asked Garcia.

"Without knowing where to start it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack" The team threw her a skeptical look. "What I mean is, in the time it takes me to look through the school the Unsub could kill someone or the Unsub might not even be in the school"

"Start looking through the school anyway, we'll try to get you a solid lead" Hotch told her and Garcia nodded.

-  
"Please tell me your name?" Claire tried again.

"Jacob Sawyer" He answered, he was sitting on top the teacher's desk, and gun pointed at the 5 people crouched together on the floor on the far end of the room.

"I don't think I've ever taught you before" He frowned at her.

"You remember everyone you teach?" Claire gave him a small nod.

"Sure, like Johnny" She looked at the dark haired, blue eyed boy sitting beside her. "I taught him last semester, and I taught his older brother Mark the year before and his older sister Chloe the year before that"

"Congratulations on the elephant sized memory Hastings" Jacob hopped of the desk and began to pace the room.

"You said that you're doing this so we know how you feel, what do you mean?" Claire asked.

"High school is supposed to be the best time of our lives right, that's what you always tells us, right?" Claire gave him a small nod. "Yeah well, I walk into this school every day with nothing but fear" Jacob turned his eyes to the ground as he paced.

Out of the corner of her eye, Claire saw Stacy pull out her phone. The young woman was trying her best to hide what she was doing and Claire decided to help her out. Claire nudged Nathan and discretely told him to help Stacy cover the phone. Nathan shifted so the phone was covered between them.

"It's funny, none of you know my name" Jacob continued to pace. "But all of you have contributed to making my life hell in this school, Nathan" Nathan looked at Jacob. "You've kicked my ass more times than I can count and Lisa, you've tortured me in every class we've ever had together…Because it's fun" Jacob shook his head with a bitter laugh, Jacob stopped his pacing and faced the group. "You know-"Jacob cut himself off. "What are you doing" He pointed his gun at Stacy. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

He began to rush towards her, but she quickly pulled her hands out and showed him her phone.

"It's just my phone!" She tossed the phone onto the ground in front of her.

"Fucking phone" Jacob muttered. "Kick it over, along with all of yours" Everyone did what they were told, Jacob bent down and picked up Stacy's phone. "911" He read aloud, he closed the phone and tossed it on to the floor again. "If anyone comes through that door, you're the first to die" He pointed his gun at Stacy, who silently began to cry. "Hastings" Claire looked away from Stacy and turned to Jacob. "Where's your phone?"

"In the staff room" He threw her a skeptical look. "I'm a teacher, I can't have in on me…I could lose my job"

"I hope you're not lying, if you are I will kill you" With one swift kick, Jacob kicked the phones across the room.

-  
"Hotch" JJ turned when she heard the familiar voice, a small smile gracing her face when Will walked into the truck, he gave her a small nod. "A 911 call was just made, we think that the Unsub is in a room with a few students"

"Do you have the number" Prentiss asked, Will nodded and handed her the paper that had the number.

"Garcia, track it" Morgan stood beside her as Garcia began to track the phone.

"On it" Garcia's fingers moved fast across the keyboard. "Alright, it's inside the school and….Got the room number…Room 123"

"We should call the room, try and talk to the Unsub" Rossi said and Hotch nodded.

"You have to call the school and then put in the room number, it should take you there" Rossi nodded at JJ. "Garcia, all the room have a camera try and get eyes inside that room"

"I'm just about to do that" Garcia began to type once again.

-  
Jacob jumped when the phone in the room began to ring, he turned to it before turning to the group, he seemed conflicted for a moment.

"You should answer it" Claire began. "It's probably the police, they just want to talk to you"

"Get up" He told Claire. "Now, on your feet!" Claire moved. "Answer it" Claire began to make her way over to the phone. "Don't do anything stupid" He whispered to her as she passed him.

Claire walked up to the phone and after taking a deep breath she answered. "Hello"

-  
All eyes turned to the phone, Garcia stopped typing and silence took over the room. Slowly all eyes turned to JJ, who looked like she didn't believe the voice she was hearing on the other line.

"Claire?" She asked, praying that it wasn't.

_"Yeah" _Claire answered and tears immediately sprung to JJ's eyes.

"No, no" JJ moved over to the phone. "Baby" Will placed a hand on the small of her back. "Are you there with the gunmen?"

_"Yes" _JJ didn't do anything to stop the tears that began to fall down her face.

"How many of you are in the room?" Rossi asked.

_"Four" _

"Are any of you hurt?" Prentiss asked.

_"No" _

"Can you give us a name?" Hotch asked.

_"I can try" _

"Do you know his name?" Rossi asked again.

_"Yes" _

_"HANG UP THE FUCKING PHONE" _They heard another voice yell.

"Tell him I want to talk to him" Rossi had urgency in his voice.

_"He wants to talk to you, Jacob" _Morgan quickly wrote the name on the board in the truck.

"Last name Claire, we need a last name" Hotch pushed.

_"I have to go, he's in a **rush**" _

"Baby listen to me" JJ said before Claire could hang up. "We're going to get you out of there, do you understand me?"

_"I love you"_ Claire whispered.

"I love you too" With that the phone was hung up.

JJ was pulled into Wills arms, she welcomed the comfort and tried her best not to completely breakdown. She had to have faith that Claire was going to be fine, that they were going to get her out of there.

"JJ" JJ pulled away from Will and turned to Reid. "Claire emphasized on the word 'rush' do you know why?"

"Um..." JJ thought about it for a moment before something hit her. "Rush is one of Claire favorite bands, we went to a cover band concert once for a date and that's where we had our first kiss….it was during Tom Sawyer by Rush" JJ moved over to the board and began to write something down. "That's his name, Jacob Sawyer"

"Garcia, get eyes inside that class room and then get information on him" Garcia gave Hotch a nod before typing once more.

-  
Claire sat back down and had to struggle to not let the tears fall, hearing JJ's voice just broke something in her. She was so scared that she wouldn't make it out of here to see JJ in her wedding dress, to see her walk down the aisle, to see her smile, to see Henry, to see JJ pregnant if they ever plan to expand their family…To kiss her….To tell her she loves her every day.

"That was the police?" Jacob asked as he took a seat on the desk once more.

"FBI" Claire answered, keeping her eyes down.

"What?" Claire looked up and saw Jacob looking at her in shock.

"What you did isn't small" Johnny started. "You shot up a school; of course they're going to send in the big guns"

"SHUT UP" Jacob snapped. "Just…Just let me think!"

"Have you hurt anyone Jacob?" He turned to Claire. "Did you shoot anyone?'

"I…I don't know" He looked away from them. "I just shot"

"If you didn't hurt anyone then maybe you can change all of this" He looked up Claire again, and she swears she saw softness in his eyes. "You can make all of this okay, the charges you face won't be as harsh, especially if you turn yourself in Jacob…Just end this" Jacob shook his head and the softness was gone.

"I can't take this back, I can't change this…Make this right" Jacob shrugged. "Good try Ms. Hastings"

-  
"There you go" Garcia said as the monitor brought up the classroom Jacob was in currently.

"Claire…"JJ whispered as she moved to the screen, her fingers running over Claire's image. Tears built up in her eyes again as she moved away from the screen. "I need some air" JJ moved out of the truck and head outside.

"Hey" JJ turned and saw Emily standing behind her. "Are you okay?"

"I, uh, I just keep thinking that our wedding is a few days away and I haven't gotten a chance to tell her that we changed our flower arrangements" JJ let out a shaky laugh.

"Well you can tell her when we get her out of there" JJ nodded before she shook her head and covered her mouth to hide a sob. "JJ…" Emily stepped closer to her.

"What if we can't-"Emily was quick to cut her off.

"Don't, don't do that" Emily placed her hands on JJ's shoulders. "You have to believe"

"I have to be realistic Em" JJ's voice cracking with emotion. "There is a chance that she won't make it out…That she won't come back to me"

"There's a chance that she will and you have to hold on to that, you have the best team in the world working on this and we will get her back to you" JJ looked away from Emily, but Emily forced her eyes back to her own. "Believing is half the battle, you're not a quitter and you have never given up…Don't start now" After a moment JJ nodded. "She needs you" JJ nodded again before stepping away from Emily. "Let's do what we need to do, to get those kids and Claire home safe"

The two women walked back into the truck, they walked over to the team and began to join in on whatever they were doing.

"I don't think he wanted this to happen" All eyes turned to Reid. "His body language is just screaming to get him out of there"

"Then why do it?" JJ asked.

"What's the biggest reason as to why kids bring guns to school?" Rossi asked the team rhetorically. "Because they've been bullied"

"This kids at his end" Hotch said. "This is his way of retaliating…He think it's his last choice"

"That's not good" Morgan spoke up. "Hotch, if he thinks that this is his last choice then he doesn't plan on walking out of that room"

"Then we need to go in" Prentiss said.

"Let me try talking to him first, please" Rossi plead, knowing that if they ran in there it wasn't going to end well. Hotch thought about it for a moment before giving Rossi a nod.

-  
"Can I ask you something?" Claire asked, Jacob stopped pacing for a moment, he frowned before nodding. "How do you know me, I mean you were never in my class, so how?"

"You're one of the most loved teachers in this school, everyone knows you" He stopped pacing to take a seat on the desk again. "I actually like you" Claire threw him a small smile. "You were always kind to me, I mean you probably didn't even know it, but you were. I'm sorry you got caught up in this…I never wanted you to get involved"

"I'm sorry" All eyes turned to Stacy. "I'm so sorry about what we've put you through" She took a breath before continuing. "I'm popular and somehow the people I hang out with…we seem to think that it's okay to do what we do…And it's not, we-I don't realize the impact of my words and action" Tears began to cascade down the girls face. "What we've done to you is wrong and I am so sorry" Jacob looked away from her and down to the ground.

"Oh come on" Jacob turned his eyes to Nathan. "Are we going to turn this into a tear fest, sit around and cry, begging him to forgive us?" Nathan let out a laugh. "Yeah man, we bullied you" Nathan shrugged. "So what, we all get bullied and we all get beat up"

"Nathan-"Lisa started but he cut her off.

"No, he talked now it's my turn" Nathan turned back to Jacob. "We've all been though what you've been through, but we didn't bring a gun to school to make ourselves feel better! What you're doing is wrong, and you it. This is high school man, it sucks sometimes, but you move on and get over it. It's four years of your life"

"Yeah and what of those years am I going to get back, which of these days am I ever going to get back?" He questioned. "The day that someone thought it would be funny to pull my shorts down in gym class, or the day that I was stuffed in my locker so long that I almost stopped breathing, or the day that I learned that if I look down when I walk that I'll save myself from an ass kicking?" Jacob roughly wiped at his tears angrily. "You think you've been through what I've been though, what people like me have gone through? Your worst day in this school would be my best day"

"Maybe so" Lisa spoke. "But that doesn't make what you're doing right; this doesn't make any of it better"

"No this does make it better!" Jacob yelled. "This will finally make you all understand that what say and what you do matters, it all matters" Jacob turned his eyes to Claire. "Maybe this school will finally take what they say seriously, they have anti-bullying campaigns, and they run around saying that they stand up to bullying but it's all just words" Jacob simply shook his head. "There are a bunch of kids out there that are going through what I am, but they do nothing to help them…Believe me I know. So yeah this may not be right, but it will fix things…At least for them"

The phone in the room rang and Jacob looked over his shoulder before turning back to the group.

-  
"Come on kid, pick up" Rossi muttered.

"Alright team, gear up" Hotch told them and they began to head out of the truck, but Hotch called them back. "Morgan, I want you to talk to the SWAT team and let them know we're ready to move in, format a plan with them and make sure everyone is in sync" Morgan nodded and headed out of the truck, followed by everyone except JJ who was stopped by Hotch and Rossi was still trying the phone. "Are you ready to do this?"

"Yeah, I just want to get all of them out of there…Get her out of there" JJ answered and Hotch gave her nod.

"It could get bad in there and I need you to not let your emotions take over" JJ nodded.

"I understand, I won't let that happen" JJ said with a small smile.

The two were about to walk out of the truck when Rossi's voice caught their attention.

"He's walking toward the phone" Hotch and JJ both turned towards the screen.

-  
"Fuck" Jacob turned and began heading for the phone, just wanting it to shut up.

"We can take him out" Claire heard Nathan whisper. "With his back turned, we could jump him and he wouldn't see it coming"

"Are you out of your mind?" Claire's voice was a harsh whisper. "He has a gun"

"So what" Nathan stood up and moved forward before Claire had a chance to stop him, she stood up as well.

"What are they doing?" JJ spoke out loud, frowning as she saw the teenage boy move closer to Jacob, Claire right behind him.

Hotch stepped closer to the screen and frowned, the phone stopped ringing and Rossi was too distracted by what was happening to press the redial button. JJ's heart stopped when she saw Jacob turn and point the gun at the teenage boy when he saw him standing.

"Move in" Hotch spoke into his mic. JJ couldn't move from the screen.

-  
"What the hell are you doing?" Jacob asked, keeping his gun trained on Nathan's chest, Claire was behind Nathan trying to get him to sit back down.

"This is over, I'm done with this" He stepped slightly closer. "You're not going to use it; you don't have the balls to do it"

"Nathan, just sit the fuck down" Claire urged, trying to pull him back by him arm but he yanked it away from her.

The two boys stared each other down for a moment, before Nathan suddenly made a rush at him but Claire stuck her foot in front of him and pushed him, using his momentum to push him to the ground. The room feel into silence when the sound of a gun shot went off, after a moment Claire felt a pain ripping through her chest and when she glanced down at her chest she saw a red stain quickly forming. Her legs give away and Nathan caught her in his arms before she could hit the ground.

"No" Jacob whispered, the gun falling from his hand and clattering to the floor. The sound was sharp and loud in the silence of the room.

He hadn't meant to shoot her, he reacted when Nathan rushed but he never thought that Claire was going to attempt to stop him in anyway. He watched as Nathan moved Claire from his arms and lower Claire to the floor, the teacher's blood covering his hands and shirt.

-  
"CLAIRE" JJ yelled before running out of the truck, it broke Hotch out of his daze.

"JJ" Before he could say anything more she was out of the truck. "Will, stop her!" Hotch yelled into the mic, knowing the detective was just outside the truck.

Will turned from the school and saw JJ running toward him; he quickly wrapped his arms around her waist. The impact of her run brought them both to the ground on their knees, and when JJ tried to fight him Will held tighter, he refused to let go.

"Let me go!" JJ shouted, continuing to struggle. "It's Claire!"

"I know, but I can't let you in there, I'm sorry" Will said into her hair.

-  
The SWAT team along with Morgan, Prentiss, and Reid moved through hallways in the school. When they came in front of the room, one of the SWAT members broke the door open. Morgan moved into the room first, followed by Prentiss, and right behind her Reid, all three with guns pointed at Jacob. On the ground they saw Claire, Nathan holding her, alive but bleeding out.

"I'm sorry" Jacob whispered out, his back to them. "I never wanted to hurt her" Jacob sank to his knees and Morgan moved to him, he cuffed him and asked one of the SWAT members to take him out.

Reid quickly holstered his gun and moved to Claire, he kneeled down beside her and moved Nathan out of the way. Reid quickly put his hands over her wound and tried to stop the bleeding.

"We need a medic!" Emily yelled into her mic, moving to Claire as well.

Claire turned her eyes to Emily, Emily knew she wanted to say something but it was clear that it was a struggle. Her breathing was laboured and wet, the bullet probably punctured a lung and was now filling with blood.

"Reid, it's not stopping" Emily told the doctor, seeing the blood seeping through his fingers.

"Give me your jacket" Reid spoke to Johnny; he quickly tossed his jacket at Reid. Spencer took the jacket and placed it on top of her chest.

"Em-"Emily turned to Claire, the woman struggled to even get her name out. "You'll…Take care…of her?"

"I won't have to, you're going to be fine and we're going to get you out of here" Emily told her with a smile.

"Please" tears began to fall from her eyes, cascading down her face. "I…I need-"She was cut off by a coughing fit, blood filling her mouth and trickling out.

"WHERE'S MY MEDIC?" Morgan yelled into the mic, he moved beside Emily and kneeled down. Placing a hand on Claire's leg.

"I need…To know…She'll be okay" Prentiss gave her nod.

"I'll protective her, everyday" Claire did her best to smile at Prentiss.

Claire took one hand and placed it on Morgan's, the other gripped on to Reid's arm.

"Thank you…For being…her family…And mine" As the words left her mouth, her eyes rolled back and her grip went limp.

"No, no!" Reid began to tap her face.

"Come on Claire, don't do this!" Morgan shook her leg.

They looked up when the medics came running through the door, the three of them moved out of the way and watched the medics get to work.

-  
JJ heard everything through the ear piece, hearing what was happening made her struggle just that much more. She turned her body enough to get some room and elbowed Will in his side. Will's grip weakened and she took off running right away, Will was getting helped up by Hotch before the two of them followed JJ.

JJ ran through the hallways of the school, she knew she was moving fast but it all felt like it was in slow motion, she finally got to the class room. JJ ran into the room and straight into Emily's arms, she backed JJ into a wall and held her there.

"Claire!" JJ shouted through the lump in her throat, through the tears; her arms wrapping around Prentiss, needing something to hold onto. She watched the medics try and stop the blood, she watched as Claire's chest didn't rise.

"Let them do their job JJ" Emily whispered to her, Emily turned her head to the door when Hotch and Will ran in.

"Call it" One of the medics said, as they stood up with a crest fallen look on their far. The other medic gave a time but JJ didn't hear it, she let out a cry and pushed away from Emily.

"Claire, I'm so sorry" JJ fell to her knees and brought the woman in to her arms, her chest burning from the sobs. "I'm so sorry" JJ buried her face into Claire's neck and cried.

Emily leaned against the wall and covered her mouth, Reid let tears fall as he turned away from the site, Morgan ran a hand over his head and neck, Hotch turned his eyes to the ground and shook his head. Will moved to JJ and bent down beside her.

"JJ" Will rubbed her back. "Come on"

"I can't leave her" JJ's body racked with sobs.

"I know, but you have to let them take her in" Will placed a kiss on the top of her head.

JJ pulled away from Claire's neck and placed a kiss on her cheek; she placed Claire back on the ground lightly and Will pulled her way. She turned and buried her face in Will's chest, breaking down.

They had covered Claire's body with a white sheet and stretchered her out, JJ stayed close, and kept Claire's hand in her own. The tears and sobs have stopped, she was going through the motions and she was in shock. She couldn't believe that this had happened, how was this happening?

-  
As they were stretching Claire's body to the morgue's car, JJ's eyes caught Jacob Sawyer standing beside a car. Emily saw who JJ was staring at and quickly moved her way to JJ. JJ dropped Claire's hand and her own hand made its way to her gun, before anything more to happen Emily placed her hand on top of JJ's.

"Don't do this" Emily whispered to her. "Think of Henry, of Claire…She wouldn't want you to do this" After a moment or two JJ let go of the gun and Emily let go of JJ's hand. Emily turned away from JJ and caught Hotch's eye, he gave her a small nod to thank her and Emily returned it.

JJ watched as her fiancés body was placed into the car; once the door was closed JJ began to make her way to the SUV that would take her back to the BAU to be debriefed. As she was walking Garcia came running toward her, she wrapped her arms around JJ but JJ couldn't return it.

"I'm so sorry JJ, if you need anything" Garcia pulled away and JJ saw tear tracks running down her face. JJ gave her a nod before making her way back to the SUV.

-  
"Alright, I think that's all we need" Strauss ended the tape recorder, after hearing the day's events through JJ's point of view. "JJ, take as much time as you need the Bureau-I'll be here if you need anything" JJ nodded before getting up and leaving the room.

She headed to the elevator and headed to the BAU floor, once she made to the floor she headed to the conference room. As she stepped inside all eyes turned to her, her eyes fell on her son.

"Mama!" Henry moved from Emily and took off running to JJ; she scooped him up into her arms and hugged him tightly. She tried her best not to break down right there.

"I'm going to need a few days off" She spoke to Hotch.

"Of course, please take as much time as you need" Hotch told her, he was the only one who understood what JJ was going through. This scene looked much like the day he lost Haley.

"I'll let you guys know when arrangement have been made" The team gave her a nod.

"Come on" Will walked up to her and took Henry into his own arms; JJ noticed that his eyes were red from crying. "I'll drive you home" JJ nodded.

"JJ" JJ looked at Emily. "If you need anything"

"Thank you"

-  
The three of them stepped into JJ's house, as soon as she walked in it suddenly became that much harder not to break down. Everywhere she looked she was reminded of Claire; Will's voice brought her out of her daze.

"I'll put him to bed" JJ turned to him and gave him a nod.

"Can you stay tonight?" Will nodded.

"Of course, that couch will be my best friend for as long as you need me" Will began to walk up the stairs and JJ followed him.

Will turned to Henry's bedroom and JJ moved to her own room, but once she was in front of the door she couldn't open it. Her hand froze on the door knob and she started to shake, she didn't know how long she was there before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"JJ?" Will asked, voice filled with concern.

"I can't go in there…Not tonight, it's too soon" Will slowly pulled her hand off the door knob and turned JJ to him.

"That's okay, you don't have to go in there right now, sleep in the guest room tonight" She nodded. "Alright" He began to walk her the short distance.

"Thank you" JJ said once she stepped into the room. "For everything" He gave her a small nod, JJ closed the door and turned in the room.

She stepped into the middle of the room and suddenly the days even hit her, her legs gave away and she collapsed to the ground. Sobs ripped through her chest and tears cascaded down, Claire was dead…Her fiancé was dead…Her Claire was dead.

_-  
Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred, how did it find us? Did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return, but knowing that some would be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows. Swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name? Is it your name?-Unknown_

**-  
A/N: Love is Louder than bullying, if you are being bullied please talk to someone because you are not alone. And I also want to say that my heart is with everyone in Boston, stay strong Boston, stay strong. **_  
_


	9. Strength

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**A/N: Thank you so much for the response to the last chapter, I can't express to you in words (which is sad cause I'm a writer) how much it meant to me. I wish I could hug each and every one of you. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, love forever and always. **

"JJ" JJ turned from the full length mirror and smiled at her mother. "You look beautiful"

"Thanks mom" JJ lifted the ends of her dress slightly, moving closer to her mom. "I'm so glad you're here"

"Oh sweetie, I wouldn't miss this for the world" JJ smiled brighter at the words, her mom returned the smile before pulling her daughter into a hug. "You only get married once…Well I hope you only get married once" JJ let out a hard laugh.

"I don't have to worry about that, Claire's the one mom…I can feel it every time I look at her" JJ felt tears built up in her eyes when she saw her mom's eyes fill with them as well.

"I think so too, she's prefect for you" Her mom handed her a tissue before using one of her own. "Now, don't be a downer and ruin our wedding makeup"

"Sorry" JJ said with a laugh. "Is dad ready?" JJ asked once she gathered herself.

"Yes, he's waiting outside the door" Her mom told her with a smile, just as the words left her mother's mouth a loud beeping noise began to go off.

"What is that?" JJ asked, looking around the room.

"That means it's time to go" JJ's mom walked to the door and opened it to reveal her father.

"Ready to go princess?" JJ's father gave her a smile and extended his arm.

JJ moved to take it but found that she could not move her feet, she looked down and found herself standing still. She looked back up at her parents and saw them moving further and further away from her, JJ opened her mouth to scream but nothing came out.

Suddenly JJ's eyes snapped open and she jolted up in her bed, she took a few deep breathes to calm down. She had been having the same dream for the last three nights, since Claire died. She reached over to her phone and turned the alarm off; she leaned back against the headboard and let out a breath. JJ was still sleeping in the guest room, unable to even step into her bedroom.

Today was the day she was going to bury Claire, tomorrow was supposed to be her wedding day, but instead she was burying her fiancée. JJ felt tears build up at the thought, how the hell did this happen. JJ closed her eyes and took a deep breath to fight the tears; once she was composed she headed to the bathroom.

-  
"Hey" JJ said as she walked downstairs, giving Will her best smile.

"Hey JJ" The detective threw her his own smile.

JJ could not be more thankful that Will was in her life, he hadn't left since the day Claire died. He had taken a few days off to help JJ plan the funeral and take care of Henry; explaining to Henry that Claire was gone, was one of the hardest things that she ever had to do.

"Henry still asleep?" She asked, taking a seat at the table.

"Yeah, I was going to wake him up soon" JJ gave him a nod. "Are you ready for today?"

"Am I ready to bury the woman I was supposed to marry?" Will put his head down at the words. "No, I'm not ready"

"JJ, it's going to be okay-"JJ let out a bitter laugh that cut him off.

"It's not going to be okay Will, it's never going to be okay" JJ stood up from the table abruptly and made her way to the backyard.

"JJ-"She cut him off again.

"I just need to be alone"

-  
Emily finished putting in her earrings and looked at her reflection; she felt her heart break when her thoughts ventured to JJ. She hadn't heard anything from the woman in that last three days, Will had been the one to call her and give her the details for the funeral. Emily promised Claire that she would protect JJ, that she would be there for her…But first JJ had to let her in and that wasn't going to be easy, how ironic, that used to be Emily's struggle.

The knock on her front door brought Emily out of her thoughts; she made her way over to the door. She opened it and gave a small smile to Morgan; she stepped aside to let him in.

"Hey" He said as he walked in. "Garcia is waiting in the car, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, just one second" Emily moved into her living room and grabbed her purse. "Have you talked to her since…?" Emily trailed off, still not having the ability to say the words.

"No, just Will" Morgan answered as they walked toward the elevator.

"Yeah, me too"

-  
"Are your parents coming?" Will asked as they drove to the church.

"I didn't call them" JJ's voice held no emotion as she answered.

"JJ" JJ turned her eyes to Will and frowned. "They should be here for you, to support you"

"Why?" JJ didn't give him a chance to answer. "I get that you're a fan of my parents, but I'm not. You know how they've treated me over the years, they barley know their own grandson-"Will stopped JJ before she could go further into her rant, not wanting to upset the young boy in the back.

"I'm sorry" JJ turned her eyes back to the passenger window. "I'm sorry; I don't want to fight with you"

"Then why would you bring that up?" She turned and raised an eyebrow at him, but he had no answer. "Support me? They haven't supported me in years, not with Emily, and not with Claire. They don't get to mourn her, she deserves better than that…She deserves to have people who love her there, not people who didn't even know her"

"I understand" He reached over and squeezed her hand.

-  
They began to walk in the graveyard, towards what was going to be Claire's burial site. Reid, Morgan, Hotch, Will, Rossi, and Anderson all helped to carry the coffin, JJ walked behind them while holding Henry's hand, and Garcia and Emily were behind her along with everyone else.

Once the men placed the coffin down, everyone began to circle the area around the coffin. JJ bent down and kissed Henry, before placing his hand into Wills. JJ stepped forward and took a deep breath, preparing to give the hardest speech she would have to give.

"When I was first introduced to Claire, it was through a mutual friend in Garcia" JJ's voice was tight, she was trying her best not to break down as she spoke. "When Garcia first told me that she was going to set me up with someone she knew I laughed, expecting to meet someone identical to Garcia" The crowd let out a small chuckle. "Instead I was introduced to this sweet, caring, loving, history teacher who simply took my breath away" JJ took another breath, knowing this was about to get emotional. "About two month into our relationship we went out to dinner, and as we were sitting there she said to me "JJ, when we first met you said that you weren't looking for anything serious, and if that's where you still are that's okay, but one day I'm going to marry you" Tears left JJ's eyes at that.

"And she was right…She was right, I'm sure you all know that tomorrow was supposed to be our wedding day" JJ dug into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "We both agreed to write a thank you speech, and today I found Claire's because let's be honest she was never good at hiding things" Another round of chuckles. "I want to read you hers because I believe it's fitting; now I have to warn you that there is going to be a lot of tears coming from me but I promise I am going to get through it"

"Thank you all for coming, I'll try to make it quick because no one like long speeches…Believe me I'm a teacher. To my friends, I am so grateful to have each of you in my life, and to you Garcia I own so much. You introduced me to the love on my life, to my soul mate, and I could smack you for not introducing us sooner. To the BAU team, I love you all so much and I am so thankful to be able to call you my family, and I thank you for protecting JJ because to be honest I would lose my mind if it was anyone else watching her back. Will, I love you like the brother I never had and I thank you so much for being accepting of what I have with JJ. Henry, who I can now call my son, I love you baby and I'm looking forward to watching you grow into the man I know you will become. Finally to JJ, I can't put into words how happy I am to have you in my life and how happy it makes me to know I am going to be spending the rest of my life with you. I plan to cherish every second I have with you and I will love you every day till I die. So thank you all again for coming, and I love you all so much"

JJ put the paper back in her bag, wiping the tears that fell and trying to stop the sobs that wanted to escape. Silence took over the area; no one knew what to do next, till Will moved forward and placed the rose on top of the coffin. Everyone followed after him, people began to head back to their cars to give JJ and Henry a moment alone with Claire, and they gave her arm a comforting squeeze or whispered soft words of comfort as they passed her by. Emily lingered for a moment and stared at JJ, wishing there was something more that she could do. She felt a tug on her arm, when she turned she saw Will pulling her. After a moment she nodded and walked away with him.

JJ scooped Henry into her arms and they both stared at the coffin, after a moment JJ leaned forward they both placed a rose on top of the coffin. JJ kissed her finger tips and placed them on top of the coffin.

"By Claire" Henry said with a wave and a small smile graced JJ's face. Henry kissed his hand and leaned forward, JJ leaned with him and he placed his hand on top of the coffin.

-  
The reception was held at JJ's house, she tried her best to greet everyone with a smile but it was starting to become too much for her. She moved away from the front door and headed to her living room, where she saw Will sitting with the team. She quickly made her way over to them.

"Hey, I need to get some air so I'm going to step out for a second. Could you just make sure Henry eats something for lunch?" JJ asked Will, who quickly gave her a nod as he stood up.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No, but I need to get out…It's all just getting to be too much" She moved away from the team and headed out the back door.

"I'll be right back" Will moved away from the team and went to get Henry something to eat.

"So, where are Claire's parents?" Emily asked Garcia as she took a sip of her coffee.

"Claire hasn't been close to them since she was a teen, Will said he and JJ tried reaching them but they couldn't get in contact" Garcia said with a small shrug.

"And JJ's parents?" Hotch asked.

"I'm assuming she didn't want them here" Garcia answered again.

Before anything more could be said the doorbell rang, Emily stood up and moved towards the door. She opened it and almost dropped the cup of coffee in her hands when she saw who was on the other side.

"Mr. and Mrs. Jareau" Emily stood aside and let them in; they looked at Emily for a moment before stepping further into the house. They looked as uncomfortable as Emily felt in that moment.

Emily could see the entire team look at them in slight shock as the older couple walked further into the room. They looked at Emily and Emily looked at them, none of them had an idea about what to do, Will walked into the room and shock took over his features as well, but before he could do or say anything another voice rang out in the room.

"What are you doing here?" All eyes in the room turned to JJ. "Who called you" JJ stepped further into the living room but kept her distance from her parents.

"We heard what happened on the news" JJ's father, Dave, answered.

"We recognized the name and decided to come down and pay our respects" JJ''s mother, Joyce, spoke next.

"Your respects?" JJ practically spat out. "You don't have any _respects _to pay, you didn't even know her" Joyce opened her mouth to say something more, but JJ cut her off. "Get out, you're not welcomed here"

"We really are sorry for your loss" Joyce told her, though her eyes held no emotion.

"Oh give me a break, the day I believe that…"JJ trailed off. "Are you sure you don't want to pop open a bottle of champagne to celebrate her death, to celebrate that I won't be married to a women tomorrow?"

"Jennifer, don't talk to your mother like that!" Dave's booming voice broke through the room.

"Oh I'm sorry, sometimes I forget that I have one" Silence took over the room once more. "Please get out of my house, I don't want you here"

"We're just here to support you" JJ let out a bitter laugh.

"I don't need your support, I've done pretty well without your support for good chunk of my life" JJ ran a hand through her hair before stepping slightly closer to her parents. "You didn't support me when I joined the BAU, when I wouldn't marry Will, when I fell in love with women, so yeah I don't need your support now" JJ began to walk out of the living room, speaking over shoulder as she walked out. "Get the hell out of my house"

Silence took over the room once more before Emily decided to speak up, she moved in front of the couple.

"I think it would be best if you left" Emily spoke to her in the calmest voice possible.

"Who are you to-"Dave began to speak but Will cut him off.

"No, I think Emily's right, it would be best if you left" The couple shared a look before deciding to leave, knowing it was a losing battle.

-  
It had been a couple of hours since JJ's parents came by, Will rushed into the kitchen and stepped beside Emily.

"Have you seen JJ?" She frowned at the question.

"No, not since her parents came by" Will nodded and Emily took note of the worried look on his face. "What's going on?"

"I don't know where she is, I can't find her" The look of worry turned into one of panic.

"Shit" Emily leaned against the counter and let her mind think for a moment. "I think I might know where she is, I'll go find her…Just stay here and keep everyone occupied" Emily turned to leave the kitchen, but turned back around instead. "Can I borrow your car?" Will nodded and handed her his car keys.

-  
Emily walked up the hill that leads to the graveyard; she looked around once she reached the top and spotted JJ after a moment. She began to make her way over; JJ was sitting down on the ground, cross legged, in front of the small cross marked for Claire. Emily took a seat beside her and remained quiet.

"They shouldn't have been there" JJ said, almost instantly when Emily sat down.

"I know" JJ nodded and the two fell into silence once more.

"I don't know how to do this" JJ finally broke the silence. "I don't know how to move on from this…I don't think I have the strength to"

"You're the strongest person I know" Emily spoke to her softly. "You'll find the strength you need"

"What if I can't?" JJ's voice cracked, her emotions getting the best of her. "I can't make sense of this Emily, how am I going to find the strength for something that makes no sense? I'm the one with the dangerous job, I'm ducking from bullets and running into house where I have no idea what's on the other side" JJ took a moment to swallow the sob that was building up. "She was a teacher, she had a safe job and now she's dead" This time a sob broke through her chest and there was nothing she could do to stop it. "How am I going to get through tomorrow if I can't even get through today, I was supposed to be married tomorrow!" Emily nodded but remained silent; she wanted JJ to get it all out. "I'm sleeping in our fucking guest room because I can't even step into our bedroom, I can't take this damn ring off, and every night I dream about getting married to her only to wake up and realize that it will NEVER happen!" JJ buried her face into her hands and broke down, shrugging Emily off when the older woman tried to touch her.

"You'll move on from this because you know it's what she would want you to do" JJ lifted her head from her hands and looked at Emily sharply.

"She doesn't get a say in this, she's dead" The harshness of the words shocked both women, JJ looked like she regretted the words immediately. "I didn't-"Emily cut her off.

"I know" The two stayed silent before Emily broke it. "Are you mad at her for dying?"

"I'm mad at myself for letting her die" Emily was shocked at JJ's confession.

"JJ, you didn't-"JJ cut her off with a shake of her head.

"I promised her that I would get her out and I didn't, I should have been there to protect her but I wasn't" The tears began to cascade down JJ's face. "We travel around the world protect the lives of strangers, what good is our job if we can't protect the ones we love?" Emily didn't have an answer to that; she often thought the same thing. "I'm not as strong as you think I am, I'm not as strong as you or Hotch" Emily threw her a small frown. "I didn't have to fake my death twice to escape a man who was trying to kill me, I didn't have to listen to the woman I love tell me goodbye because she knew she was going to be killed" JJ let out another sob. "The hardest thing I ever had to do is learn how to live my life without you in it for a while; I don't know how to move on from this"

Emily grabbed JJ by her shoulders and forced her into her arms, JJ struggled for a bit but Emily held on as tight as she could, finally JJ stopped struggling and broke down in Emily's arms.

"You'll find the stress to move on from this because you have to, because you have a son who needs you, and because you really are the strongest person I know" Emily whispered to her, and after much consideration she placed a barley there kiss on the top of JJ's head. "You don't have to be strong on your own, you can lean on me, on Will, on the rest of the team…We're here for you and we're aren't going anywhere, I promise" As Emily held JJ, her eyes fell onto the small cross that held Claire's name.

_I promised you that I'd protect her and I will, I swear to you. _


	10. Two Steps Back

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**A/N: Thank you so much for the response, I love you all so much. I am so sorry about the wait, I had this chapter done for a while but it need a lot of re-writing I hope you all will forgive me...Love forever and always. **

"Prentiss, come on!" Morgan begged as they walked into the bullpen.

"Morgan, I have a lot to do" Emily told him with a smile, moving to sit on top of her desk.

"You're full of shit" Morgan said with a laugh. "Just come to the bar with us tonight, if we don't have a case"

"Fine, if it'll get you off my back" Prentiss threw him a smile before heading to her own desk.

"Guys, we got a case" Garcia said as she walked passed them, heading to the conference room.

"Oh, so close" Prentiss laughed at the disappointed expression on Morgan's face.

"Actually given the amount of cases we get in a day, it really wasn't that close" Reid stated of hand.

"Shut up pretty boy" Morgan smacked him on the back of the head as he walked passed Reid.

"Ow!" Reid rubbed his head and frowned.

The team sat around the round table an waited for Garcia to tell them what police department was at their wits end.

"Alright so, we're needed in Atlanta…"Garcia trailed off when the conference room door was opened.

The team looked up to see JJ walk in, shock evident on all their faces.

"What do we have?" She asked once she sat down, the room remained silent. "I need to be here" She answered the unvoiced question.

"Garcia, continue" Hotch broke the silence.

It had been only a week of JJ's absence, she had asked for a month and Hotch granted her that, but here she sat only after a week of personal leave. Had this been any other team they might have questioned JJ's sanity for coming back so quickly, but this team knew more than any other that being at the office was the only way they handled problems.

"Atlanta has a problem on their hands, the bodies of six different women were found in alley ways" Garcia brought up the images. "Nothing connecting them physically and so Atlanta PD is at a loss and that where we come in my crime fighters"

"The Unsub thinks they're trash" Rossi began. "Look at how he just dumps them in the ally way, no care at all"

"It fits with the method of killing" Hotch pointed out. "It's very impersonal kills; a gunshot to the head doesn't scream 'overkill'"

"It could mean he's a coward" JJ's cold voice broke into the room. "That's what it means, right?" All eyes turned to her, and when Emily looked into JJ's blue eyes…She couldn't remember a time they looked so cold. "All it takes is a second to pull out a gun and pull the trigger, right?" Silence took over the room once more before Hotch broke it.

"We'll discuss this more on this plane, wheels up in ten" The team began to file out of the room.

JJ was about to follow them when Emily placed her hand on JJ's wrist to stop her, JJ turned and raised an eyebrow at Emily. Emily waited for everyone to leave before leaning on the table and fixing JJ with a look.

"What?" JJ asked once she grew tired of waiting for Emily to talk.

"Are you ready to be back here?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine" JJ answered automatically and Emily shook her head, causing JJ to frown.

"No you're not" JJ rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair.

"No I'm not, you're right" JJ let out a laugh that held no humor. "My fiancé is dead and I am the furthest thing from 'fine', but I need to be here because I can't be in that house anymore. I can't be in the house that smells like her, that is surrounded by pictures of her…Every fucking square inch of that house holds a memory of her and I can't be there anymore. So I need to work because right now it's my only salvation" With that JJ turned and stormed out of the room.

-  
On the jet, as the team discussed the case, Emily was distracted by JJ. The blond profiler chose to sit on her own, as far from the rest of team as she could but close enough that she could hear what they were saying; though it didn't seem like she was paying any attention, her eyes were looking out the jet window and it didn't take a profiler to understand that her mind was elsewhere.

"There's not much we can go on for a profile" Hotch said, a grim look taking over his face. "When we land we'll take a look at the scenes and the victims, maybe we can get more of a solid profile from that" Hotch looked up from his tablet. "Morgan and Rossi, I want you to go to the crime scenes and analyze them, see if you can find something more. Reid and I will work on a geographic profile, and JJ and Prentiss, you two can talk to the victim's families…Let us get to know these girls better"

"Got it" Prentiss said with a nod, Hotch turned his eyes to JJ after realizing that the woman never once looked his way.

"JJ?" He called, yet her eyes remained on the jet window. "JJ!"

"What?" JJ was startled; she turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you hear what I said?" Hotch threw her a frown, concern evident in his eyes.

"No…No I'm sorry" JJ answered, running a hand over her eyes.

"I said I want you and Prentiss to talk to the victims' families" After a moment JJ nodded.

"Yeah, okay" As the words left her mouth she turned back to the window.

Hotch threw his look of concern in Emily's direction, she returned it before giving him a reassuring smile.

-  
Emily and JJ sat in an SUV, Emily driving to the first victims house, they drove in silence and Emily spared a glance at JJ every chance she could.

"JJ, I know you said you need to be here but are you sure you're ready?" Emily waited for her to answer, but JJ never did. Instead she chose to look out the car window, much like the jet. "You just seam distracted"

"I can do my job, Emily" JJ's voice was harsh and cold.

"I know, I'm not doubting that" Silence took over again, but it became too much and Emily tried to brake it once more. "JJ, I-"Before she could continue, JJ reached over to the radio and turned it on, insuring it too be loud.

Emily stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, giving JJ what she wanted. It wasn't long before they pulled up to the first victim's house, Emily parked the car and the two of them got out of the car. They headed to the front door and knocked, waiting for the door to open.

"Yes?" The woman's voice was tentative.

"Mrs. Camp?" Emily asked, pulling out her badge.

"Yes, can I help you?" Mrs. Camp looked at the badge before turning back to the two agents.

"Hello ma'am, I'm Agent Prentiss-"Before she could continue JJ cut her off.

"We're from the FBI and we need to talk to you about your daughter" Emily frowned slightly before turning back to Mrs. Camp.

"Um, I'm sorry but my husband isn't home" JJ gave her a shrug.

"That's fine, we don't need to talk to both of you…Unless you don't know enough about your daughter" Emily threw JJ a sharp look, shocked by the cold words.

Mrs. Camp started at JJ for a moment before moving aside, holding the door open for the two agents.

"Please, come in" Emily nodded with a small smile, she walked in followed by JJ.

Mrs. Camp directed them to take a seat in the living room, she sat across from them and gave them a small smile.

"I don't know how much help I can be, I already told the police everything I knew" Mrs. Camp crossed her legs and thickly swallowed.

"Well sometimes we like to re-visit the statements that were given" Emily told her softly. "When they talk about it again, they remember something that they might have forgotten to tell the police or something really small that they didn't think could be significant but it is"

"And sometimes people lie" JJ was blunt, it was true, but JJ didn't need to point out to this woman who had just lost her child. "As profilers, it's our job to find them and straighten out their story"

"I never lied, Agent, and I resent the accusation" Mrs. Camp shook her head at JJ. "I have no reason to lie, I want you to find the man that killed my Beca"

"Was Beca involved in anything?" JJ asked, not missing a beat. "Cult group, drugs…?" JJ trailed off with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" Emily wanted to glare at JJ, but she held it back. "Beca was a good girl; she was never into any of that stuff"

"I can't count the amount of parents that have told us that" JJ muttered and shook her head.

"Listen _Agent_" Mrs. Camp's voice took a harsh tone, she had enough of JJ's crap. "My daughter was a good women, she moved out but always made enough time to come home and spend time with her father and I. She was smart, beautiful, and loving, and she was gunned down because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now I have given the police my statement, if you have question then great, if not then get the hell out of my house…I do not need to sit here and listen to this"

"Ma'am" Mrs. Camp turned her eyes back to Emily. "Did Beca have a boyfriend?"

"Yes, Lucas Turner, but they broke up before her death" Emily frowned and Mrs. Camp caught on immediately. "Luke didn't do this, he and Beca stayed close after the break up, he became almost like family…Always over for dinner with Beca"

"They worked better as friends?" Emily asked and Mrs. Camp nodded. "The last time you talked to Beca, did she give you any reason to think that something was wrong?"

No, but she knew that I worry about her a lot, so if anything was wrong she would have hid it from me…Just to save me from worrying, but if that's the case then you should talk to Luke" Mrs. Camp grabbed the pen and pad that was on the coffee table. "I'll give you his address, she told him everything" Mrs. Camp folded the paper and handed it to Emily.

"Thank you" Emily gave her a small smile before standing up. "I'm sorry for your loss Mrs. Camp"

Mrs. Camp gave her a nod and showed the two agents the door, once they were outside JJ moved toward the SUV. When she opened the door, Emily slammed it closed; JJ turned to Emily and frowned but before she could get a word out Emily spoke.

"What the fuck was that in there?" Emily pointed to the house, trying her best to keep her voice low.

"What are you talking about?" Emily scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, don't act stupid because it doesn't become you" This time JJ rolled her eyes, she turned to open the door once more but Emily kept it closed with her hand, JJ turned back around and irritation was clear on her face. "You're hurting because you just lost someone that meant the world to you, I get it JJ, but so did she" Emily pointed to the house once more. "She did not deserve what you just threw at her; you're a better agent than that-hell you're a better _person_ than that!" Emily stepped back from JJ and shook her head. "If this is how you're going to be till you move on from what happened to Claire, then you have no right to be in the field"

Emily moved to the driver's side of the SUV, she opened the door but didn't get in when she saw JJ going back to the house. JJ walked up to the door and knocked; she took a deep breath and waited for the door to open. Mrs. Camp opened the door and let out a sigh; she leaned on the door frame and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry" JJ told her. "What I did was uncalled for, I was extremely harsh and you didn't deserve that…Not with everything you have going on right now, it was extremely unprofessional and I am truly sorry" JJ took another breath before continuing. "I uh-I just lost my fiancée about a week ago and she was also gunned down…I haven't been handling it well, but you didn't deserve my pain to be thrown on you. I am really sorry for your loss" JJ gave her another small smile before turning to walk away.

"Agent" JJ turned back to Mrs. Camp. "Thank you, and I'm sorry for your loss as well"

"Thank you" JJ made her way to the SUV and got in, from the corner of her eye she could see Emily smiling. "What I did was wrong" She said to Emily as they began driving. "But don't ever tell me that I have no right to be in the field…I have earned my right to be here"

"I know"

-  
"Get anything?" Reid asked when Emily and JJ walked into the station.

"Nothing too solid" Emily answered. "The families all basically said the same thing, they were good kids and that they never did anything wrong"

"Garcia is checking their backgrounds to confirm the family's stories" JJ said as she took a seat at the table. "The only consistency is that the women like to party, nothing hard-core, but they liked to go to a club with their friends"

"That fits the geographical profile" Reid moved back to the map. "All the ally's that the bodies were found in, were less than two blocks from a club"

"We suspected that would have been the case" Hotch crossed his arms and stared at the map. "That he finds his victims in the club"

"Maybe he stalks his victims?" Prentiss suggested.

"He too disorganized to plan that far ahead, his profile is all over the place" Hotch turned back to the team. "Hey" The rest of the team turned and saw Rossi and Morgan walk in.

"Well the crimes scenes didn't give us much to go on" Rossi took a seat at the table, a frown on his face.

"All we know is that the murders definitely happened in the ally's" Morgan leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "There was a lot of blood splatter on the wall and we figure that he held the victim against the wall and shot them"

"We think he's finding them at a club" JJ pointed to the map. "The clubs and the ally's are very close to each other, so he probably finds them there and then follows them till he gets them alone"

"He's still all over the place" Hotch pointed out. "We have nothing to pinpoint him with; all we have to go on is that he attacks women. They're ages and looks vary…He's too disorganized" Hotch ran a hand over his face before turning back to the team. "Go to the hotel guys, get some sleep…We're not getting anywhere tonight"

The team began to leave the room, Hotch grabbed Emily's arm before she could leave the room. Emily looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Hotch made sure the rest of the team was out of hearing range before turning to Emily.

"How was JJ?" Emily turned her eyes to JJ's retreating form before looking back at Hotch.

"She was a little bit off at the beginning, but she's…She's okay" Emily gave him a reassuring nod.

"Do you think she's ready to be back?" Emily thought over the question for a few moments before answering.

"I think she needs to be back"

-  
The next day the team was waiting in the lobby of the hotel, they were waiting on Prentiss, and they didn't have to wait too long.

"Sorry about the wait, Garcia called me last night and said that the girls were clean…Not even a parking ticket" Emily told them with a shrug.

"How is he picking these girls…Why them?" Rossi questioned, but no one had the answer…Till Reid.

"Because they're leaving alone, he's never gone after anyone that leaves with someone. When they're in the club he's observing the women that come in alone and then watches them to insure they leave alone" It was as if a light bulb went off in that moment.

"That makes sense" Hotch gave Reid a nod. "We still need to figure out why he's picking the girls he's picking"

"The one's he thinks are the most vulnerable?" Morgan suggested with a shrug.

"Someone he considers the weakest" Hotch said with a nod. "Alright, let's get back to the station"

-  
It had been three days since the team had got there and they still didn't have much to go on, they found out that the victims never had too much to drink. They drank enough to feel a buzz but not enough to get drunk, the ME confirmed that for them.

When Morgan questions why the girls never took a cab home, it got Reid thinking and he went back to the map in the room. When he looked at where the victims lived and where they were found, he quickly learned that the victims all lived in close proximity of the club. This explained why they never called a cab, because they felt that they were sober enough to walk home.

The team sat around their table overlooking the file once more, when lead detective Chad Griffin rushed in.

"There's been another victim" Was all he said before he left the room; the team was quick to follow him.

-  
"This is strange" Reid said when they pulled up to the crime scene. "This is exactly where the first victim was found"

The team made their way over to victim, once again it was a woman and she was shot…This is their Unsub, there was no doubting it.

"Was she killed yesterday" Reid asked the ME.

"Yes" He answered with a nod.

"On a Monday, just like the first victim" Reid shook his head with a small frown.

"She has ID on her" JJ pulled out the girls wallet from her purse, she quickly called Garcia. "Hey Pen"

_"Hey blond lover, hit me with it" _

"Can you tell where Megan Fields lives?" JJ put the phone on speaker so the rest of the team could listen.

_"155 Grim Lane, it's an apartment building and she lives in…Apartment 205"_

"Thanks Pen" JJ hung up and stood up from her crouched position.

"Alright" All their attention turned to Reid. "Megan lived in the same area as our first victim and our Unsub most likely found her in the same club that he found our first victim" Reid turned his phone to them and showed them the map.

"The Unsub isn't as disorganized as we thought he would be" Hotch told them, looking back at the victim. "He has a pattern and we need to figure it out"

-  
It was another three days before they got the lead they needed; unfortunately it came at the expense of another victim.

"Ladies night!" Reid said as soon as they walked back into the station.

"What?" Prentiss raised an eyebrow.

"Ladies night, it explains so much" Reid moved over to the case file.

"Reid's right, he's hit these clubs multiple times, on specific days" Rossi said with a frown. "How the hell did we miss that?" Rossi asked as Reid took the piece of paper from Rossi's hand.

"Exactly, that's how he knows which clubs to pick and why he hasn't escalated…Why his kills haven't happened faster, because he can't, because this is what he relies on" Reid put the paper on the table and pointed at it"

"Which probably means he lives in the area" JJ pointed out. "He has knowledge of the area, which is how he would know that these specific clubs have ladies night on these specific nights, he's never wavered from them because this is his comfort zone" Reid nodded enthusiastically.

"It would explain how he chooses the clubs" Hotch said, stepping closer to the table, placing his hands down to lean on the table.

"Morgan, call Garcia and see the clubs have ladies night" Reid placed the paper in front of Morgan, who was quick to pull out his phone.

_"Talk to me my hunk of burning love" _

"Hey baby girl, I need you to look into the clubs that were near the crime scenes, they're all about two blocks away" Morgan put his cell onto the middle of the table.

_"Okay, got it"_

"Do any of them have ladies night?" Morgan asked.

_"Uh…Yes!" Garcia paused for a moment. "Oh my God, the nights match up to the nights that the victims were killed" _

"That's what we thought" Morgan picked his phone back up. "Thanks mama" Morgan hung up.

"It's Friday, so that means he's going to be at…"Reid trailed off as he looked at the map and list of clubs. "Club Sparrow"

"We still have nothing to go on, we don't know who we're looking for" JJ said from her seat.

"No, but we could keep an eye on the club, and if we see something suspicious we could take it down" Prentiss suggested with a shrug.

"And if it's the wrong person then we wasted valuable time, while the actual killer has his newest victim" JJ pointed out, shooting down Emily's suggestion.

"Or we could save a girl's life!" It was clear that a fight was going to occur between the two.

"Stop" Hotch's commanding voice cut between them. "JJ's right, we have no idea what to look for" Hotch began to pace the room. "We'll go in pairs to the clubs, see if anyone remember the victims and if they saw anything suspicious on the night they were killed…We have to move quick, we don't have much time"

-  
Most of the team was back at the station, with the exception of Hotch and Reid; they didn't get a lot from the clubs. Most of them remembered the victim but could not remember anything suspicious. Hotch and Reid walked in and took a seat at the table instantly.

"Club Sparrow remembered something" Reid gave the team a small smile.

"He remembers a man walking around the dance floor a couple of time before taking a seat, he said he just found it odd, then left when our victim Ella Hathaway did. After seeing him circle the dance floor, he kept an eye on him" Hotch told them as he pointed to one of the victims. "He remembers that the guy had been there a couple of times, we're looking for an Unsub with black hair, average height and weight"

"That doesn't give us much to go on" Morgan shrugged.

"No, but at least we have an idea of what we're looking for" Morgan gave Reid a small nod at his response.

"Who are we dealing with?" Emily asked. "What are we dealing with? I mean this guy is all over the place, his pattern is almost non-existent. We have no idea what we're confronting"

"I think we're dealing with a psychopath" All eyes turned to Rossi. "Like Prentiss said he's all over the place and very disorganized. He kills because he wants to, because he can, there's no reason behind his kills. He's average height and weight, so he goes after women because the chances of them fighting back is slimmer than men, especially if he goes after vulnerable women…Once that leave alone and had maybe just a little too much to drink"

"He's a psychopath without a purpose" Hotch summarized.

"A psychopath without a purpose" Rossi repeated.

"Those are the worst kinds" JJ ran a hand through her hair. "What set him off though? I mean if he's a psychopath then he should has a laundry list of kills"

"Not necessarily, it might have been an urge he tried to control till he just had to give in" Reid told her with a shrug.

"Alright, this is what we're going to do tonight" Hotch moved to the head of the table. "JJ and Prentiss, I want you both in the club to try and spot the Unsub. The rest of us will be outside the club, Rossi and myself will be at the front, and Reid and Morgan I want you guys in the back" The team nodded. "We'll get Atlanta PD to back us up" Hotch turned to walk out of the room, but stopped and turned for a moment. "JJ and Prentiss, if he approaches either one of you tonight, take him out the back…Least amount of attention would be best" Hotch then turned his attention to Morgan and Reid. "Stay out of site, if one of them takes him out the back, we'll inform you"

-  
Emily walked into Club Sparrow and almost immediately spotted JJ sitting at the bar, who had walked in a few moments before her, Emily let their eyes connect for a brief moment before breaking the contact. Emily took a seat at an empty table and began to look around the area; nothing seemed out of place just yet.

_"Prentiss, JJ" _They heard Hotch's voice talking to them through their ear pieces, the ear piece was laced inside their ear to insure that no one would see it unless they were looking. _"We talked to the club owner about tonight, he's knows who you are and why you're here. I asked him to keep an eye out for the Unsub" _

Both women were sipping on a drink, one that Emily ordered when a waitress was near her, and eyeing the area, JJ's attention changed when the owner of the bar, Eddie, leaned over the bar to talk to her.

"See the guy that just walked in?" He asked, without taking his eyes off JJ.

JJ briefly glanced over her shoulder and saw a man that fit the description standing at the door; she quickly turned back to the owner and smiled.

"At like you're talking to me" Eddie nodded with a smile of his own. "Tell me what he looks like"

"Red shirt, black open hoddie, and blue jeans" Eddie told her quickly.

"Em" JJ spoke into the mic that was discretely hidden in her watch. "Guy in the red shirt, black open hoddied, and blue jeans"

Emily turned in her chair and caught the guy JJ described; she lifted her own wrist discreetly. "Got him"

"Awesome" JJ flashed one more smile at the owner before turning in her stool; she saw the Unsub heading toward the dance floor.

JJ stared at the Unsub for a moment longer before standing up; she pounded back the rest of her drink before beginning to make her way to the Unsub. At first Emily didn't notice it, but when she did panic erupted in her chest.

"JJ, what are you doing?" She whispered into the mic. "JJ?" She saw that the blond made no move to answer her.

_"Prentiss, what's going on?" _Hotch asked.

"JJ's walking toward the Unsub" Emily stood up from her chair, with the idea of stopping JJ.

Before she could even move from where she was, a man knocked into her and caused their drinks to fall. The man dropped to his knees and Emily bent down to help him. While she was down a pain ripped through her ear, she yelped and her hand went to her ear.

"Are you alright?" The man asked her.

Emily quickly stood up and looked toward JJ, she could see the blond nudging her head toward the exist. The Unsub seemed hesitant but after a moment nodded and followed JJ out the back.

_"Prentiss, did she just crush the ear piece?" _She heard Hotch ask.

"I think so, Hotch, she just left with him out the back" Emily didn't bother hiding how she spoke into her watch.

_"What!?" _She heard Morgan's, panic stricken, voice pipe in. _"We didn't even see her leave"_

_"That's because she knows you wouldn't see her, we told you that we'd inform you and she used it to her advantage…She wants to handle this"_ Hearing Hotch's words, Emily quickly made her way to the exit.

"Damn it, JJ" Emily rushed through the door.

-  
"I don't know if can wait to get to my place" Troy Wayne, the Unsub's name that JJ had learned, said with a small smirk.

"Me neither babe" She threw him a wink, as they continued their walk. JJ knew she didn't have much time before the team would be right behind her.

"You married?" JJ looked at him and then followed his line of site…To the ring she had yet to take off.

"No" JJ began to twirl the ring. "I was engaged, not anymore"

"Here" Troy turned them to an ally way. "Is that why you're alone"

"Yeah" JJ stepped into the ally way and felt Troy step behind her.

His hand moved to her arm and in one swift moment JJ grabbed his hand and turned, she twisted his arm and caused him to bend over. Once hunched over, JJ kicked the back of his knee to drop him to the ground. JJ stepped away from him and slightly out of the ally way, she pulled her gun out from behind her back, which was covered by a jacket, and pointed it at him. It wasn't long before the rest of the team was at her side.

"Help me, this crazy bitch just started attacking me" He tried to plead with the team, causing JJ to let out a humorless laugh.

"We're with the FBI" Troy's face dropped at JJ's words. "Troy Wayne you're under arrest for the murders of eight women"

Morgan moved behind Troy and handcuffed him, the team put their gun down…All except JJ, in front of JJ Troy Wayne did not exist…No, the man she was looking at was Jacob Sawyer and in her mind's eye all she saw was Claire bleeding out on that white tile floor.

When Morgan lifted Troy up, JJ charged at them and grabbed Troy. She shoved him hard against the wall and pointed her gun under his jaw, she brought her face as close to his as she could and her forearm held him in place.

"You're a fucking cowered" She hissed out. "I could end you, right now…Just like you did to her"

"JJ!" Hotch made a move to walk toward her, but Emily stepped in front of him.

"It would take just a second to pull this trigger, and for just a second you would feel what she felt" JJ could feel tears building up in her eyes, but she fought them back.

"JJ" Emily placed her hand on top of JJ's shoulder, she moved closer to place her mouth near JJ's ear. "JJ, it's not Jacob Sawyer…You know that, please just put it down" Emily whispered to her.

JJ heard Emily, but didn't react…Not right away; she stared at the man in front of her and for a moment her hand tightened on the gun and her finger was trigger hungry. She pressed the gun harder against his jaw, before finally stepping back and holstering her gun.

-  
The team was sitting on the jet, JJ once again chose to sit the furthest away from the team. Nothing had been said to JJ about her incident, but she knew it was coming. JJ knew she was right when she saw Hotch making his way over to her, he had a look of anger mixed with sadness. He sat down across from her and fixed her with a look before shaking his head.

"What you did was stupid" He didn't beat around the bush.

"What I did caught the Unsub" JJ shot back.

"It could have gotten someone killed" Hotch told her with a frown.

"I didn't put the team in danger-"Hotch cut her off.

"You put yourself in danger" JJ looked away from him with a small shrug. "You matter to this team…You have a son that you need to think about before you pull that shit" JJ gave him a silent nod. "Then what you did after he was arrested…"Hotch trilled off. "Jesus JJ, you are not ready to be back"

"Hotch-"He once again cut her off.

"I told you that I would give you as much time as you wanted and you asked for a month, now you're going to take that month" JJ opened her mouth to argue but Hotch talked over her. "It's not up for negotiation, it's a mandatory one month and more if I see fit" JJ shook her head and looked away from him. "JJ, look at me" JJ did as she was told and saw his face held a softer look, as did his voice. "I value you on this team, but I value _you _so much more and if you don't take the time you need to grieve about this you will lose yourself…Believe me" Hotch stood up but didn't walk away. "What makes you special is the connection you have always had with the families that we cross, don't lose who you are JJ…Claire wouldn't want that"

-  
The team had landed and JJ had chosen to go home right away, the rest of the team made their way into the building. Once inside they began to collect some of their belonging and paper work that they were going to do at home.

"Morgan" Morgan turned to Emily. "Still want to go out?"

"Hell yeah, you're coming?" Morgan asked with a smile.

"Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here" Emily returned his smile.

-  
JJ gave the babysitter a smile as she walked her out of her house, she made her way upstairs and stepped into the guest room. JJ tossed her go-bag down and made her way to the bathroom, JJ looked down at her ring and began to twirl it around her finger. After a moment she pulled the ring off her finger and placed it on top of the sink, she reached behind her neck and took of the necklace that she normally wore. She too the simple pendent of the necklace and placed the ring on the gold chain,

JJ placed the chain back around her neck. JJ took a deep breath and glanced back down at her finger, she closed her eyes and shook her head, and she reached for the chain and roughly pulled it from her neck, breaking it in the process. She took the ring and placed it back on her finger, tears in her eyes.

-  
"That girl is eyeing you" Morgan told Prentiss with a small smirk.

"What?" Prentiss looked in the general direction that Morgan was staring.

"Oh yeah Pussy Cat" Garcia said with a smile. "She's been doing that since we walked in, aren't you a profiler"

"Shut up!" Emily laughed.

"Are you interested?" Morgan raised an eye brow before taking a sip of his beer.

"Uh, we are not talking about this" Emily finished her drink and stood up. "I'm getting another drink, anyone want anything?" They both declined and Emily made her way over to the bar.

Emily leaned over the bar, trying to get the bartender's attention when she felt a hand on her arm. She looked to her left and saw the girl that Morgan and Garcia were talking about.

"Can I buy you a drink?" The woman threw Emily a smile that could only be described as flirty, Emily looked her over for a moment before throwing her a smile of her own.

"Sure"


	11. Moving Forward

**Disclaimer****: I do not own anything!**

**A/N: Thank you so much for the response, I love you all so much. So this chapter is really something to help me push the story, not a whole lot happens and I am sorry about that, but I wanted to get something out there because...I got myself a job so finding time to write is going to be slightly tougher, but I promise to update as fast as I can and I promise I will never leave this story hanging. Love forever and always. **

JJ started up at the FBI building in front of her, suddenly feeling more than intimidated. A month had passed and JJ could finally feel herself healing, she began talking to a therapist that Hotch suggested to her and when she finally began to open up…She finally began to heal, but she knew she was still far from fine and the road was going to be a long one…But she was finally on the right path. The night before she was ready to be back, she had told Will that she was more than ready to be back with her team and do what she did best. Despite all the healing the JJ had been doing, there were still a couple of things she couldn't bring herself to do. She had yet to take her engagement ring off, something she argued about with her therapist almost daily, and she still couldn't step into her bedroom.

All the confidence flew out the window when she stepped in front of the double doors, all the negative thoughts she worked hard to get rid of were flooding her mind. What if she wasn't ready for this, what if she snapped like she did a month ago? JJ closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths before pushing through the doors. When she stepped out of the elevator and into the BAU office, she felt her hands begin to shake and she quickly balled them into a fist in order to hide the shake.

"JJ!" JJ looked to her left and smiled at Garcia. "Welcome back pumpkin pie" Garcia quickly pulled her into a hug and JJ returned it.

When JJ was forced to take her time off, she requested that no one came by to visit her. All she wanted to do was spend time with Henry and take the time she had to really move on from what had happened, in order to that she had to take a step back from her job and everyone involved with it. Seeing Garcia after a month put a genuine smile on her face, she missed them all but especially the always excited blond.

"Hey Garcia, I missed you too" JJ pulled back, a smile on her face.

"Oh it is so good to see your face again" With that Pen lightly tapped JJ's cheek a couple of time. "Come on, the rest of the team missed you too" Garcia took JJ's hand into her own and began to tug her.

"The Pennsylvania Petite is back in the saddle" JJ let out a laugh as Morgan made his way over to her. "Welcome back" Morgan pulled her into a brief hug.

"Thanks Derek" JJ pulled back with a smile.

"I missed you" Reid said as he stood in front of her, hands stuffed into his pockets.

"I missed you too, Spence" JJ looped her arms around Reid and felt his arms circle her waist.

She threw Rossi a smile when she felt him pat her shoulder a few times, as he walked by her. Hotch walked from his office down to her, smile on his face, and stuck his hand out.

"Welcome back" JJ shook his hand with a smile.

"Thank you" Hot nodded.

"Speak in my office in 15?" JJ gave him a nod; Hotch threw her one more smile before heading back toward his office

"Hey" JJ looked over her shoulder and smiled at Emily. "It's good to have you back, we've missed you" Emily placed her hand on top of JJ's shoulder, before she could move her hand, JJ put her hand on top of Emily's.

"Thank you, for everything" Emily returned the smile before the two separated.

Over her time off, JJ had reflected on a lot of things, one of them being Emily. Emily had really been there for JJ when she lost Claire, it was her arms that held JJ up when she ran into the classroom, her arms that JJ broke down in at Claire's funeral, and her presence that stopped her from killing Jacob Sawyer and Troy Wayne. JJ had been so lost in her own grief that she never thanked Emily; it took her time off for her to realize how much she actually leaned on the older agent. She would never be able to truly thank Emily for all she did, but saying the words was at least a start.

Once JJ was settled back in her desk, she made her way to Hotch's office. They didn't have a case today, something JJ was glad for. She wanted to get back to work, but she wanted to get her rhythm back with the team. JJ knocked on the door and walked in when she heard Hotch call out.

"Have a seat" JJ nodded and sat down in front of him. "How are you?" JJ took a deep breath, she was better but it was still a very loaded question.

"I'm healing" It was the best answer she could give him, it was the most honest. "I'm moving on"

"Do you feel ready to be back?" Hotch raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm actually thinking clear again…When I close my eyes I don't see her on that floor" Hotch gave her a small nod. "You were right, I need time to really process her death and I didn't take the time to do that…I just jumped back into work and tried to power through it, but clearly being around death wasn't going to do anything to help me cope" JJ took a small breath. "But I am ready Hotch, I'm here and I'm ready"

"I think so too" Hotch stood up and stretched his hand out. "Welcome back, JJ"

"Good to be back" JJ stood up and shook his hand.

-  
Emily was standing in the break room, pouring herself a cup of coffee; she looked to her left and smiled when she saw Garcia beside her.

"So how's it going with Anna?" Garcia asked, sly smile on her lips.

"Things are going okay, we're really just taking it slow" Emily grabbed some sweetener and ripped it open. "I gotta say though, she's pretty cool"

Anna Granger bought Emily a drink one month ago, Emily was certain that smaller brunette just wanted a night of fun with no strings. What she got instead was a night of great conversation and laughs, Anna was someone that matched Emily on an intellectual level, something Emily only found at her job and it was nice to meet someone who she could truly hold an intelligent conversation with, to top it off for Emily having a serious job she needed humor, and Anna had a great sense of humor.

Anna works as a doctor, in the trauma department, her work hours are hell and it doesn't help that Emily has hours that are worse than hell; though the two still managed to find time to see each other and get together. They weren't in a relationship, not officially at least, but they were dating, both felt it was too early to really put a label on it.

"She's awesome" Garcia said with a smile, she had met Anna only a handful of time but just loved the girl. "Are you uh…"Garcia looked over Emily shoulder at JJ, sitting at her desk and laughing with Reid. "Are you going to tell JJ?"

Emily looked over her shoulder at JJ as well before turning back to Garcia; she shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.

"There's nothing to tell right now, Anna and I aren't anything serious" Garcia fixed her with a look. "What?" Pen continued to give her the look. "Look there's no point in having that conversation, Anna and I have only been on a few dates"

"Alright, just make sure she hears it from you" Garcia moved around Emily to leave the room, but turned back around once more. "It hurts less"

"Hurts less?" Emily frowned. "She was engaged, she moved on a long time ago, Pen"

"There is always a sting when an ex moves on, it's less when it's not heard from a third party" Garcia gave her one more smile before leaving the room.

-  
Emily sat at her desk and kept her eyes on JJ, she couldn't get Garcia's words out of head, should she mention something to JJ before it slips from someone else? Will JJ really care that much?

"I can feel you staring at me, Prentiss" JJ lifted her head smiled at Emily. "It's a little creepy"

"Sorry" Emily laughed; Emily ran a hand over her eyes before throwing JJ a small smile. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah of course, what's going on?" JJ raised an eyebrow.

"Let's go to the break room" Before Emily or JJ could stand up, Emily's cell went off. "Sorry, just give me a sec" JJ nodded and went back to her paper work; Emily looked down at the ID and saw Anna calling her. "Hey"

_"Hey Agent" _Emily smiled hearing the sweet voice on the other end. _"I was wondering, if you don't have a case, if you would want to grab some lunch with me?" _

"We're actually case free today" Emily said with a small laugh, she saw JJ raise her head and look at her.

_"Great, then you'll grab lunch with me?"_

"Yeah that'd be great" Emily closed the file in front of her and pushed away from the desk.

_"Rex's dinner, by the hospital?"_

"Sound's good, be there in a few" They said their good byes and hung up.

"Was that your lady love?" Morgan asked with a small smirk, JJ turned her eyes to him before slowly moving them to Emily.

"Lady love?" She raised her eyebrow at Emily.

"Morgan's making it a bigger deal than it is" Emily stood up and gave JJ a smile, fighting the urge to glare at Morgan. "It's uh, this girl I met about a month ago, and we've just been on a few dates" JJ nodded with a small smile.

"You're seeing someone?" Emily nodded, glancing quickly at Morgan, Reid, and Garcia, before turning her eyes back to JJ. "That's great, Em" JJ gave her another smile. "Good for you"

"Thanks" Emily smiled; she picked up her blazer and shrugged it on. "I'm going to lunch, can we talk after?"

"Yeah, have fun" JJ smiled once more before turning back to her paperwork.

Emily let her eyes linger on JJ for a moment before turning and heading out of the BAU. Garcia watched her leave before turning to JJ, she watched as JJ focused on her paper work, after a few moments she smacked Morgan on the back of his head.

"Ow, hell" Morgan grabbed the back of his head and turned to Garcia.

"I love you, really I do, but you're an idiot" Garcia's voice a harsh whisper.

-  
JJ walked up her stairs, the day's events fresh in her mind, Emily was seeing someone…Emily was seeing someone; JJ knew she had no right for her heart to hurt but it did. There was a small sting that made it's presences known every time the thought crossed her mind, but she took a deep breath and let it out. This was not going to back track her healing process, Emily had every right to move on and JJ was going to try her best to be happy for her. They were friends and JJ was not going to throw that away, it took a long time to get back to that and JJ like having her back in her life…So she was going to be supportive and she was going to be happy.

JJ was about to move passed her bedroom to the guestroom, but she stopped, she stopped and stared at the door in front of her. It was time to let another weight lift of her chest, she put her bag down and stepped slightly closer to the door. She rubbed her hands on the side of her pants; she placed it on the doorknob and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and turned the knob, opening the door, her eyes fluttered open and she looked at the room. With another deep breath JJ stepped into the room for the first time in a month, she looked around the room and tears sprung to her eyes…But a smile graced her face, she nodded with the smile as tears slipped from her eyes. She was getting over this, she was truly healing.


End file.
